Novas are Shattered Stars
by Ashley Eon
Summary: ...he turned toward her as they passed through the doors, and a shiver ran down Rachel's back – his normally light brown eyes had turned scarlet, and held an alert gleam that definitely wasn't his. "When did I ever say that?"
1. The Brass Shell

Everything around the two teenagers went completely silent. Rachel's shoulders grew tense, like they were lifting an invisible weight. She held her breath, and judging from the lack of noise in the room, so was he...

Suddenly Rachel was drowning; drowning in a room without any water in it. She couldn't squeeze air into her lungs to drive away the water. She didn't see anything different about the place she was in, but she knew there was water and it was going to kill her. Rachel looked up, and she saw him, staring with scared eyes into her dying ones. He took her hand, hoping to comfort her. Rachel gratefully tried to smile in appreciation, even though her vision was already blackening around the edges. With her other hand she clutched her necklace. Just before she passed out, Rachel saw his eyes widen, as though it now was his turn…

* * *

><p><em>Five days previously…<em>

Rachel caught up to Andrea close to school. "Hey," she panted, almost tripping over her baritone horn case. "Wait for me."

Andrea's long dark hair barely rustled as she turned her head. "Careful there." She grinned. "You should go back to playing trumpet." Her smaller, lighter instrument case lightly bumped against her leg, as if in agreement.

"Yeah, well." Rachel shrugged. "It's not like anyone else is playing baritone." It was the only reason she'd taken up the baritone that year.

"Next year," Andrea suggested. The two girls approached the band room of Twinleaf High School and set down their instruments.

Twinleaf High isn't a particularly large school. Being in the suburbs of Jubilife City, Twinleaf itself is farther away from the action than most other towns. The tall skyscrapers and busy streets are another world away from Twinleaf Town, with a population of just enough people to need its own high school. Nothing of much importance regarding legends and great pokemon happen there, except the duo who'd saved Sinnoh had originated there. It was normally a quiet place.

Today was not normal.

"Rachel," Andrea said, a slightly tense tone in her voice. "Ra – WATCH OUT!"

Rachel turned in time to jump away from the oncoming car. Her baritone horn was safely against the wall by the music room door, but the car had screeched to a stop right where she'd been standing. The vehicle was the strangest thing Rachel had ever seen: it was aqua blue and scaly-looking, with a ridged hood and pointed trunk. Bright red spikes ran along the top of the car, down the middle. The front could have passed for the jaw of some reptilian creature, complete with fang-shaped headlights.

"What in Arceus's name?" The vice principal came barreling around the corner. From what Rachel had seen of him, he was a short, quick-tempered man with a loud voice and a scary frown. "Hey! Get off the campus!" He hollered at the car.

The driver's door swung open. A lady straightened out of her seat. Her calm, gentle face was inlaid with crystalline blue-green eyes that knew just how pretty they were. Light brown hair framed her face, twisted into an elegant knot atop her head. She wore casual sneakers, a green skirt, and a white t-shirt. Over all that was a light blue lab coat.

"I'm so sorry," the lady said apologetically. "It swerved out of control, I didn't mean to nearly run you over." She was addressing Rachel now. "Please forgive me." She was being relatively formal with her.

"It's… It's all right," Rachel stuttered. What were you supposed to say to someone who nearly ran you over?

"Oh," the vice principal said, the anger clearing from his face. "Are you our guest?"

"I am," she told him. "I'll go find a place to park, and I'll get set up for today."

"That would be great. We're honored you chose to come here," he said kindly. The lady nodded and folded herself back into the oddly shaped car. It backed up and rolled around the corner in search of an empty bit of sidewalk curb.

"That was close," Andrea muttered. Rachel was still shaking. "Who was she?"

"That's a professor from Unova," the vice principal said, overhearing Andrea's comment. "She's come to Twinleaf to do something special with us."

"What is it?" someone else asked. Rachel looked over: it was Jonathan, the trombone player. He was waiting for the band room doors to open as well.

"You'll see later," the vice principal said mischievously, walking away with a smile in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Rachel had been tense and excited since the vice principal left, and was constantly reminded of the professor's presence throughout the day. Her first period English teacher wrote the assembly schedule on the board; second period's science teacher mentioned Unova's unique pokemon and evolution in passing; in third period her distracted math teacher went on and on about Unova for about twenty minutes before realizing she had to teach a class still. Finally, Rachel made it to homeroom, when the assembly was going to take place.<p>

"Okay," the band director, Mr. H, exhaled. "We have to make it to the multi-useless room by – Oh shoot," he said, looking at the clock. "Let's go! Bring your backpacks!"

Rachel caught up to Andrea between the band room and the building right after it. "I wonder what we're doing," she said excitedly, playing with the charm on her necklace.

"Can't be too boring, being from Unova and all that," Andrea pointed out.

They found seats on the cafeteria benches in between Lily and Grace. Rachel waved to Miranda, a friend who was in another class, as she came in. As the rest of the school found their way in, they talked about the professor: apparently she was a world-renowned expert in pokemon, and she specialized in Unova's. Unovan pokemon were nowhere near as well-known as pokemon from most other regions.

"I heard we take a test of some sort, and some people get picked out of everyone to go to Unova," Grace said seriously.

"Wait, really?" Jonathan turned around. "Where'd you find that out?"

"I asked an assistant before school," Grace recalled. "They told me three or four students would be picked, but I wasn't supposed to tell anyone because it would ruin the surprise." Her last three words were said with playful scorn.

"Hear that?" Jonathan asked, elbowing the person next to him. "You get to go places like the person you're named after."

"Really?" Lily asked jokingly. "Who's gonna be your girl?"

Lucas mostly ignored them. After the incident at Spear Pillar, he'd been getting hero-referenced left and right. Jokes about Dawn Hikari and Giratina were common, but Lucas and the guy who went with Dawn to save the world weren't much alike. The boy in front of her had black hair, was quiet a lot of the time, and played the tuba. He wore clothes that didn't catch attention – a dark t-shirt, jeans – and couldn't have been caught dead wearing a scarf or a bright red beret. Lucas was also younger and shorter than the college-freshman hero. The final difference was that Lucas Kouki had a girlfriend (Dawn, naturally) and Lucas Zhang did not.

"Ally will be his girl," Jonathan said without missing a beat. Lucas pretended to punch him.

*insert feedback here*

"Good morning, students," the principal spoke through the microphone. She was standing next to a projector, in front of the Unovan professor. "I hope you've all had a wonderful day so far." Without pausing to wait for the answers that were sure to follow, she went on, "I'm pleased to introduce our special guest today, who has come here all the way from the Unova region. Professor Juniper, welcome to Twinleaf High."

"Thank you," the professor acknowledged with a smile. "It's an honor to be here. I really wish I were here to talk about my work, but I'm afraid we're pressed for time and we need to get right down to business. Short introduction…" she ran her hand through her lab coat pocket and pulled out an index card. "Here it is. "

Reading off it, she said, "In Unova, we are coming upon scientific breakthroughs left and right, despite not having easy contact with the rest of the world. We'd like to share some things we've learned with the rest of the regions, so we'll be taking a few kids from Sinnoh, to start. This means you. Some of you will get a free trip to Unova for between several weeks and a few months. Unfortunately, we can't bring all of you there, though we'd love to, so we're giving you a short quiz to see who we'll bring along. It's not the sort of quiz you can cheat on, but answer honestly and we'll pick out who can relay their knowledge of Unova based on that. Do you all have binder paper…?"

Rachel took out a sheet of paper – two, really, since Jonathan had run out and needed one. She wrote her heading on it – Rachel Myers, homeroom band – and looked up expectantly. The first question was projected up on the wall:

_Are you familiar with Unovan pokemon?_ Rachel barely stopped herself from snorting.

1) Nope.

_Do you have a favorite pokemon (from any region)?_ Rachel brightened; this she could answer.

2) I like umbreon and latias or latios. Infernapes are cool too.

_Describe your most distinguishable non-physical trait in one sentence_. This made Rachel think for a few seconds.

3) I'm insanely competitive because I always want to do the best out of anyone.

She didn't particularly like the answer she ended up writing, but felt it was all right.

_Do you have any features that are not you, but you consider to be you? Interpret this question any way you like._

_What the heck_, Rachel thought with a frown. _Features… Like looks?_ She glanced at her necklace.

4) I usually wear a necklace with a shell-shaped charm on it. I really like it and sometimes play with it when I'm bored.

_What's your best subject, gradewise?_

5) Math or PE.

_What's your favorite subject, in terms of material?_ Rachel looked at this question with newfound respect; most people associated a person's favorite with their best, and inquired about them both in one question. But her preferred subjects weren't the ones she did best in, except maybe band, where she had an A.

6) Band or science.

_Rate how athletic you are, from one to ten (ten being pro athlete)._ Rachel gave herself a seven and a half.

_What sports do you play? This includes dancing and martial arts, for example._

_Easy_, thought Rachel. 8) Softball, volleyball, and dance.

_Have you ever wanted or pretended to be a pokemon?_ Rachel had to smile at this.

9) Yes.

_If you found out you made it onto this trip and could bring one friend, who would you bring?_

"Write Ally," Jonathan whispered loudly, earning himself an elbow in the stomach from Lucas.

10) Grace Bell or Miranda Vera.

"That's the last question," Professor Juniper announced. "Would you all turn in your papers to the edges of your rows?" When this was done and all the pages were collected, she smiled. "Thank you all for participating. We will have the results of who gets to go to Unova out by tomorrow. Until then, have a nice day."

* * *

><p>The day passed fairly quickly. Jonathan stopped making Sinnoh hero jokes partway through band, to Lucas's relief. Rachel's mind kept drifting off to the quiz again, and hoping that she'd be picked. But then again, there were plenty of students to pick from. She was just getting her hopes up as usual.<p>

_The next day, in homeroom:_

"Let's record Andromeda today," Mr. H. suggested. The recording went well, but the office paged someone halfway through the song. It was halfway through the bridge between the slow section and the second fast section, so Mr. H. waited for the section to be over before stopping. They listened; the page was over already.

"That's wonderful," Mr. H. said sarcastically. He turned off the music recorder and turned it back on again. "All right, let's try this again."

The PA turned on again, right at the beginning of the second and final fast section. Mr. H. cut the band off earlier this time.

"…please come to the office." The PA then clicked off.

Mr. H. huffed. "They hate us, don't they?" he said in wonder. "Beginning," he announced, restarting the recorder.

This time the phone rang. Mr. H. didn't even bother stopping the band this time – they kept going all the way until the end of the piece, ignoring the phone call. "For all those interruptions, you guys did pretty good," he complimented.

"Yeah!" Jonathan cheered. The phone rang again.

"Why not interrupt us again? We don't mind," Mr. H. said, going over to the phone. "Hello?" he said with a dangerously pleasant tone. There was a pause. "No, we've been trying to record the same song since the beginning of the period," he said lightly, but a hint of annoyance came through. "We didn't hear –" he listened. "Oh, I see. I'll tell them that." Mr. H. hung up without another word. "The office wants you, you, and you," he said, indicating Andrea, Rachel, and Lucas. None of them moved; just sat there in surprise. "Bye," he said again.

Rachel stood up and glanced at Lucas, two seats away. Between the baritone player and tuba player, there was only one other person (Jonathan on trombone). Jonathan gave them an inquisitive look; Rachel shrugged in return. As she reached the door, she vaguely noticed Lucas glance at Ally, a flute player with long, wavy hair and a warm smile. Andrea held the door open for them.

It was cold and windy outside the music room. The weather had turned rainy over the course of the morning, so the three walked underneath the alcoves of the buildings.

"Andrea, did you do something bad?" Rachel wondered mischievously, trying to break the silence.

"Nah, it was Lucas," she replied immediately.

"What did I do?" Glancing over, Rachel found an amused smile on his face.

They reached the office. Andrea held the door for Rachel and Lucas, and they stepped inside.

The secretary looked up. "Oh, there you are. I thought you three would never come. Professor Juniper is waiting for you in that room," she said sharply, pointing to a closed door.

Rachel didn't need to see Andrea's excited look to guess what was going on. Just in case, she didn't get her hopes up.

The professor greeted them with a warm smile. "How are you guys? Take a seat." Rachel sat on one side of Andrea, opposite Lucas. "We had a nice time reading your surveys," Professor Juniper said lightly. "All three of you show potential for the project we're working on currently."

_Wait... _Rachel's heart skipped a beat. _Is she saying...?_

"Would you three like to come back to Unova with me?" the professor concluded.

Rachel glanced at Andrea, who was grinning broadly. Lucas's eyes were shining._  
><em>

_This is crazy! We're going to Unova!_ Rachel realized.

* * *

><p><em>Two days later:<em>

"Bye! Have fun in Unova!" Grace said, waving to Rachel.

"See you later! Don't be too mean to Elina," Rachel said to Grace. Elina was a younger clarinet player who was too arrogant and annoying for people to like. Grace was lucky enough to sit next to her.

"She won't get hurt too bad," Grace joked.

Rachel ducked into the professor's strange car, which she'd learned was supposed to resemble a pokemon called feraligatr. Andrea was on the other side of the vehicle, and Lucas had the seat in the far back to himself. Rachel greeted them and shut the door behind her.

"You guys ready?" Professor Juniper confirmed.

"Yeah."

"Doesn't matter, we're going anyways," she said cheerfully, pulling away from the school.

The last two days had been an excited panic. Signing forms had been the least of it; they also had to promise to actually learn something there and try not to get too far behind on other subjects. This was no problem for Rachel – She'd been in a competition a few years back that covered this year's science course, they never did anything in her English class, and math came to her almost naturally. History would be troublesome, but she was going to be excused from PE (no mile runs! YES!) as long as she ran or something most days. There wouldn't be a band competition for about five months, so that was sort of all right, although all of their playing techniques would decline while they were away. Other than that, they had to pack clothes. That morning had been so rushed, Rachel had nearly forgotten her shell necklace, but now it was dangling safely below her throat. Speaking of the necklace…

"Rachel, I forgot to say how awesome your necklace is," the professor said.

"Oh – thanks," she said awkwardly. Her right hand traveled up to play with the tiny brass shell almost unconsciously.

"On your quiz you wrote that you aren't familiar with Unovan pokemon," Professor Juniper recalled, stopping for a red light.

"Yeah… I'm not," Rachel agreed, glancing at Andrea. The older girl was looking at the professor with a curious tilt of her head.

"Did you know the shell on your necklace is like a pokemon's?"

Rachel's eyebrows flew up. _Really?_ she wondered. "Which one?"

"It's a Unovan pokemon called oshawott. They fight with a shell on their chest called a scalchop, similar to the one on your necklace. Oshawott is a water type starter pokemon, like Sinnoh's piplup."

"I never knew," Rachel said wonderingly.

The car found its way across town to the dock on Lake Verity. Parked by the shore were sailboats, motorboats, a large ship or two, and… a plane?

"It's a seaplane," Professor Juniper explained as they got out of the car. The dreary weather from the day before was still there, blowing her hair slightly astray. "It flies, but it floats on water too. It's convenient because we're aiming to land on the southern ocean."

Rachel shivered as the wind whistled past her ears, whipping her dark, shoulder-length hair in every direction. They loaded the plane with their bags and got into the passengers' part of the plane.

Seven hours later, they had sighted Unova.

"I never knew how far away this place was," Andrea muttered tiredly. It was four in the afternoon in Sinnoh, they'd been in a plane since ten in the morning, and they still hadn't had lunch. Rachel was half asleep, but she forced her eyes open to watch the landing. The plane gracefully glided down and skimmed the surface of the water. As it slowed, Rachel was aware of a distinct bobbing feeling, like of a boat.

The plane-boat hybrid floated towards the shore – _Unova's shore_, Rachel realized. This was Unova, the place she'd heard of but never seen with her own eyes. The place they were arriving at was a busy harbor, supposedly south of the professor's hometown. On either side of the harbor stood a cluster of cherry trees, barely starting to blossom. The port itself wasn't very big, but several ships and yachts were parked along the concrete strips, making it surprisingly busy for its size. The sky was clear, but the chilly air indicated that it was definitely winter here, too. At least it wasn't raining.

"We're here," Professor Juniper spoke for the first time in seven hours.

As they descended the plane's steps, a man in a uniform came over to them. "Excuse me! Since you all just arrived in Unova, I'll need to see your passports." He noticed Professor Juniper, and backtracked. "Ah. I'll just need their passports or yours with a signature."

_Our passports?_ Rachel took a worried glance at Andrea, who was frowning.

"They don't have passports yet. I'll sign." The professor took out a small booklet and showed it to the official, then signed a form he produced from a folder he'd been carrying. "Only a few people have this power," she said with a certain pride to her voice. "Just the head professor and champion of each region. Everyone else needs their group to have passports. In Unova, you can't even leave the region without a passport. Either you're a native-born citizen of Unova who registers for a passport, or you travel with a professor or a champion. You guys have me," she said for good measure, with a twinkle in her eyes.

The official walked away and the group unloaded the seaplane. Each of them had only bought along one bag, so they didn't have much to carry the short distance to the professor's lab.

"You guys will love Nuvema Town. It's essentially just like Twinleaf, right outside a larger city," the professor said cheerfully. "It doesn't have a lake with a legendary pokemon inhabiting it, but it's very quaint and attracts many new trainers. The Nuvema Town Harbor is nowhere near the largest in the region – that honor belongs to Castelia's port – but it's certainly an important spot around here…"

The professor was in particularly good spirits, even after that insanely long plane ride. Rachel was feeling exhausted, probably from the fact that it was nearing half past three and none of them had eaten lunch yet. Oh, and her butt hurt from the plane ride. And she was going to get serious jet lag… Which reminded her that it probably wasn't 3:30 pm in Unova. Doing some mental calculations with the time zones, she estimated that it was probably half past nine in the morning, which explained why the professor didn't notice hunger.

They came upon a concrete walkway bordered by bricks. It lead them up a wide, sweeping hill with grass and flowers on either side to a large, modern-looking building. A windmill stood right by it, turning effortlessly despite the building being right beside it.

"This is the lab," the professor explained. The outer front consisted of mostly windows, with an arching automatic glass door in the center. A bright orange roof topped it, and despite the loud color, it fit in perfectly with the rest of the lab. They walked up a narrow concrete path that was damp from the lawn's sprinklers into the lab.

Rachel turned around. The front of the lab let in as much sunlight as possible, giving the front room a light, spacious look. Several sofas and a coffee table dominated one side of the hall, and a receptionist's desk rose from the floor right in front of them. To either side of them there was a clear automatic door: behind one was a sterile-looking white hallway, and behind the other was another wide, open room with lots of windows letting in light.

The receptionist at the counter looked up. She was a petite blond lady with slim glasses and a headset like a pilot's. The lady currently was talking to someone through the microphone on the headset, but she noticed the professor and nodded in greeting, gesturing at the door to the other room as she continued to talk. Rachel tried to pick up on what she was saying, but it was one of those conversations where you have to be listening from the start to understand anything. The receptionist was talking about merging something with something else, and a test that would happen soon. That was all Rachel heard before following the professor into the next room.

"Welcome to the Nuvema Town laboratory," Professor Juniper announced. "Andrea and Rachel, you have room Snivy, and Lucas, your room is the Tepig room. Get settled in and I believe it's lunchtime," she finished with a spark of amusement in her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi! Novas is a remake of a story I started and stopped in a few months. This one, though, has lasted much longer already, so you don't have to worry about it going away anytime soon.<strong>

**Andromeda is a level three song for Concert 1 or 2 band. It's by David Shaffer, and it's really neat. I played it last year with Andrea in my band. She got the trumpet solo. Look it up if you get bored/want to listen to some awesome music without words. I think I'll try to include a song title in each of my chapters, just so you can hear them.**


	2. Oran Berries

**Sorry for the wait. I got stuck briefly on Eyes of a Dragon's chapter fifteen. Besides my lame excuse, there's nothing I really want to say; everything's at the end. So read on! :D**

* * *

><p>The greenhouse through the automatic glass door was roughly the size of the multi use(less) room at Twinleaf High. Most of it was taken up by large planters with varying types of forest plants in them: from long ferns to compact bushes and trees that managed to let the light through in most places, but block it in others. Along the wall were three doors. One was red, another blue, and the third green. Each one had a painting of a pokemon on it. The rest of the room, which wasn't occupied by planters, was covered with a clean tile floor, which was surprising considering what was in the huge plant boxes: dirt.<p>

Rachel, Andrea, and Lucas were left in this spacious room to wonder what a snivy or tepig was.

"I bet they're pokemon," Andrea guessed, seeing the colorful pictures painted on the three doors. None of the pokemon on the doors were familiar, though.

"Rachel, look." Lucas pointed to the door with a blue background. The pokemon on it had a round head and body, short arms and legs, and a dark blue tail. Dark blue bumps on its head looked like they could be ears, and most of its body was light blue. What Lucas was pointing to, though, was the small yellowy shell attached to the pokemon's stomach.

Rachel held up the charm on her necklace. The two shells were exactly identical, except one was brass and the other was paint. "This is oshawott, then," Rachel concluded, indicating the picture. "The other two must be snivy and tepig." One looked like a little pig with a black and orange body and a springy tail with a red… spherical object (yes, I know, you all want me to call it a ball) on the end of it. The other was long and slender, with leafy blades on its shoulders and tail and haughty-looking red eyes.

"This one's tepig," Andrea decided, pointing to the red door.

"How do you know?" Rachel asked in surprise.

"It's like a grumpig. They both have a curly tail and a ball… thing on them somewhere," Andrea reasoned. "And both have 'pig' in them."

Rachel considered her logic. "Makes sense."

Lucas opened the red door a crack. Wordlessly, he slipped inside and closed the door behind him. Andrea started to follow, but Rachel stopped her. "It's his room," she pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Andrea agreed. "Snivy looks… Kinda weird."

Rachel shifted the backpack on her shoulders. She turned the handle and swung the green painted door open. "Oh, this is pretty," she said brightly. The walls had been painted dark green, like an evergreen. The pair of twin beds were covered in patterned green quilts to match the walls, or maybe the walls were painted to match the quilts. A mahogany desk and chair sat in one corner; in the other, a sturdy leaf green armchair. The deep brown carpet created a soft layer on the floor up to the doorway they were standing in. Between the two beds stood a bedside table of the same wood as the desk, with a tan lamp sitting on it. There was no bathroom.

"Andrea?"

"Yeah?"

"Why isn't there a bathroom?"

"Um…" Andrea scanned the walls. "No clue. We can ask the professor."

"Yay," Rachel said happily. "Lunch."

* * *

><p>The bathroom turned out to be a door behind the receptionist's counter. One for ladies, one for guys. Both included showers, toilets, and sinks, as well as tubs for washing pokemon in.<p>

"Did you guys find your rooms?" Professor Juniper asked, taking a bite of her sandwich. They were sitting around the coffee table in the front room, eating sandwiches and fruit.

"Yeah," Andrea confirmed. "They're really pretty." Rachel figured that was a good enough answer for all of them.

"I'm glad you like them," the professor said. "Did you notice the pokemon in the greenhouse?"

"Pokemon in the greenhouse?" Rachel echoed, feeling stupid.

"There's a few of them living in the bushes. They can be shy sometimes, but they'll play with you if they think you're safe," Professor Juniper said.

The rest of their lunch went like that – Andrea politely conversing with the professor, Rachel occasionally making a comment or two, and Lucas not saying anything at all. The professor departed to her work, saying they had the rest of the day off and that she'd see them at six. Afterwards, the three teenagers returned to the greenhouse and looked around for the pokemon, but apparently the little creatures didn't trust them and refused to come out. Rachel and Andrea gave up and went back into their room after a while, where they listened to music, read, talked, and generally did nothing for hours. Around three fifty in the afternoon (nine fifty pm in Sinnoh), they came back out of the green painted room to find Lucas staring into a bush. He looked up as they walked over.

"The pokemon haven't come out," he told them, sounding puzzled.

"Still?" Rachel asked, looking into the brush.

He nodded. "If they're here, they're not even making any sounds," he added.

"Weird." Rachel shrugged. "We'll ask the professor. It's almost ten right now in Sinnoh."

The professor was waiting for them in the front lobby, with another lady. The newcomer had long, dark hair that reached the bottom of her lab coat. Her dark blue eyes all but hid behind shallow glasses with black rims, and a large, childish pink flower clip held back her bangs. The buttoned-up lab coat she wore concealed most of the light pink shirt she had on. Her feet wore pink flats the same shade as her shirt. The lady was laughing and talking with Professor Juniper like an old friend.

"Ah, there you are. This is Fennel, my old college friend. She's a scientist too, but she's only visiting Nuvema for a few days. Fennel, this is Andrea, Rachel, and Lucas, the kids from Sinnoh I told you about," Professor Juniper said.

"It's nice to meet you," Fennel said, smiling. She had an innocent, happy demeanor that made her impossible to not like.

"Nice to meet you too," Rachel said softly and awkwardly. Cordial speech was not her thing.

"Have a seat," the professor said, gesturing to the other sofa. As they sat down, she continued talking, "I hope you've had a relaxing first day here. Tomorrow I actually will be preparing all that you guys get to see, so you'll have tomorrow to do as you please."

"Sounds great," Andrea replied easily (Rachel was jealous). "We were wondering if there's anything wrong with the pokemon in the greenhouse, actually. They haven't come out, and Lucas was waiting for hours and they didn't make a single sound."

Professor Juniper frowned. "That's strange." Her expression suddenly brightened. "I know! Could you three do me a huge favor and look for them tomorrow? I know they're in there somewhere; we have cameras all over the lab, inside and out, and none of the pokemon have gotten out in months. It shouldn't be too hard a job."

"Sure thing," Andrea responded brightly.

* * *

><p>For another few hours, they looked around the planters, but still there was no sign of any pokemon. Finally, at seven thirty (half past one in Sinnoh), they showered, got set for bed. Rachel wanted Andrea to listen to a song that her band had done in eighth grade, when Andrea had gone up to high school. They listened to Encanto several times and got into the beds. Rachel wondered distantly what the blanket was made of; it was so soft…<p>

"Rachel?"

"Hm?" Rachel was already falling asleep…

"I'm going to the bathroom. Be right back."

"Kay." Rachel drifted off. Her dream was about walking through a forest, where all the pokemon in the bushes scattered as she walked, afraid of her presence.

* * *

><p>"Andrea?"<p>

Rachel's voice echoed across the empty bathroom. Not here either. "Andrea?" she tried again; no luck.

She had woken up to find her friend not in bed. Her first assumption had been that Andrea was already up, but that had soon turned to doubt. She wasn't in the lobby eating breakfast, she wasn't in the Oshawott room, she wasn't looking for the pokemon in the planters. She wasn't in the bathroom, and when Rachel went outside to check there, there wasn't anything around but the plants.

And the sprinklers that immediately turned on and soaked her.

There wasn't anywhere left to search. Rachel took a couple of oran berries off the coffee table and returned to the greenhouse. Lucas was sitting on the floor by the planters, so completely still he was almost a plant himself. But he looked up when Rachel came in.

"Here," she said, tossing him a berry. He caught it. Nodding in thanks, he rolled it to a spot in the plant box where there was a gap in the foliage. "Um… That was for you…" Rachel said, perplexed.

"I had one while you were outside. This is to lure out the pokemon," he explained.

"Good luck with that," she said, slightly amused. "Your scent is all over it."

Lucas let out a tired breath. "I give up. They're not here. They dug their way out."

"There's cameras outside the lab too," Rachel pointed out. "And we promised we'd try to find them."

"Andrea did, not us," he reminded her. "Where is she, anyways?"

"You haven't seen her either?" Rachel questioned. Lucas shook his head. "I've been looking for her all morning," she told him.

Lucas frowned. "I assumed she was in your room, sleeping."

"It's almost noon in Sinnoh," Rachel said, shaking her head. She took a bite of the oran berry and chewed slowly.

"Ask the professor," Lucas suggested. Rachel would have protested, but he seemed intent on waiting for the pokemon to come out.

"Sure." She shrugged and swallowed the bite of fruit. Rachel walked back out the glass door. In the lobby, she realized she didn't know where Professor Juniper was. She took a guess and strode quickly across the wide lobby, towards the sliding doors on the opposite side.

"You can't go in there," the receptionist said sharply.

Rachel turned around. "Why not?" She asked.

"Professor Juniper's working. Something came up that she had to attend to. She wasn't going to work on it for a few more days, but it was urgent." Something about the receptionists tone of voice suggested that she was giving a partial truth; Rachel recognized it because she used partial truths herself, rather than lying outright.

"Oh. I was going to ask her where Andrea is," Rachel said, with the implication that the lady at the counter could answer in her place.

The lady's eyes flickered away briefly. "She woke up early, so the professor asked if she could assist her. The process they're working on will take a while."

"Okay," Rachel nodded. Her feet echoed with sharp taps as she made her way quickly across the tile floor, then came to an abrupt stop right before reaching the greenhouse. "What is it they're working on?" she asked.

"I'm sorry?" the receptionist said, adjusting her headset.

"Andrea and Professor Juniper. What are they doing right now?" Rachel clarified.

"Hard to say. It's so secretive I don't know myself," she answered. Her eyes darted away again.

"Thanks. That's all I needed to know," Rachel said, heading into the greenhouse.

"Anytime," said a voice behind her.

"Something wrong?" Lucas asked when she came back over to him.

"No," she said lightly. "Andrea's helping out the professor on an urgent study." He nodded, accepting the explanation.

They stayed there for a few minutes, both staring into the bushes. Rachel had more than enough time to finish her oran berry. She sat down next to Lucas, but slightly behind him so it wouldn't seem… awkward. It was a known fact between her and Jonathan that he liked Ally, even if Lucas never admitted it himself.

"This isn't what I thought we'd be doing here," Lucas commented.

"Waiting for pokemon to appear out of nowhere?" Rachel confirmed.

"Yeah. We're just sitting here," he said. The oran berry hadn't moved in the entire time they'd been there.

"Let's go outside," Rachel said finally. "We can explore Nuvema."

There wasn't anything better to do, so they left. Nuvema was a friendly city, with kids running around the smaller streets and adults shopping in the larger ones. The harbor was lined with a few fisherman, and the sea itself was tranquil, yet had a breeze going at the same time. Lucas seemed attracted to one store near the dock. Rachel took a look; it was an electronics store, selling Xtransceivers for an amazingly cheap price.

"Do you want to get one?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"I left my money in the lab," he explained.

As they walked along the streets, eyeing the strange hair of the Nuvema citizens (Sinnoan hair ranged from dark blues and greens to brown, while Unova hair colors seemed to include everything from black and brown to vibrant shades of blue, red, and green), Rachel found herself looking at the boy walking in front of her. His gray Vans sweatshirt with thin black stripes somehow managed to emphasize his small size, while the gray baseball cap he wore hid his eyes. He kept his hands in his sweatshirt pockets as he walked. The hair that showed beneath the back of his hat was black, but it reflected sunlight in a way that made it look almost silver. Something in the back of Rachel's mind wondered why she was staring at him, but she brushed it off. The answer that it was mischievously hoping for was too embarrassing and unreal.

"Lucas," she said suddenly. He looked where she was pointing.

Professor Juniper was walking briskly through the crowd on the opposite side of the street. She was talking to a device on her wrist.

"Professor," Rachel shouted. The professor didn't look up. "Professor Juniper!" No response.

"If she's not in the lab, the experiment's probably done," Lucas said. "Andrea might be out too."

"Let's head back then," Rachel decided. As an afterthought, she added, "Unless there was anything you wanted to do?" Lucas shook his head.

The trip back up the hill was faster than the trip down. For one thing, both of them wanted to know what Andrea had been doing. Halfway up the hill, Rachel realized Lucas was walking faster than her, and sped up, In return, he began walking faster as well. She picked up her pace once more, and he started running. Lucas and Rachel both ran as fast as they could toward the lab, trying to outdo each other. By the time they burst into the Nuvema Town Laboratory, both of them were breathing hard and laughing simultaneously.

"Having fun?" the receptionist asked, smiling.

"Yeah," Rachel panted. Noticing that the oran berries were still on the coffee table, she asked, "Can I take one?"

"However many," the lady said passively. Rachel took two and tossed one at Lucas. They walked into the greenhouse again, eating the fruit.

Rachel knocked on the green door with the snivy on it. "Andrea?" she called.

No answer.

She opened the door, only to find the room exactly as she had left it in the morning. Frowning, she emerged and said to Lucas, "She's not here." He went over to the Tepig room's door and swung it open. Rachel did the same with the blue door in the middle. No one was inside the Oshawott room, and judging from the look on Lucas's face, the Tepig room was empty too.

They followed the same routine Rachel had gone through that morning, searching the lobby, the planters, the bathroom, and just beyond the front entrance (fortunately, the sprinklers didn't turn on this time). Andrea was nowhere in sight. They were just heading back to the greenhouse in resignation when Rachel realized something obvious. "Duh," she muttered to herself, striding over to the front desk. The receptionist looked up. "Hi. I was wondering where Andrea is?" Rachel wondered.

"Still working with the professor," the lady replied shortly.

"I thought they were done with what they were doing," Rachel recalled.

"Nope. They're both still working. Been at it nonstop since this morning. Now if you'll excuse me…" the receptionist went back to typing into her computer.

Rachel shot Lucas a look. His expression mirrored hers, saying, _Professor Juniper has_ not_ been working nonstop all day…_

The two teenagers returned to the greenhouse. "I'm gonna check for holes in the ground," Lucas said, stepping onto a planter.

"You're gonna – oh, that. I really don't think the pokemon would get away with digging their way out," Rachel replied. He merely shrugged and lifted the branch of a particularly rough bush out of the way. Rachel decided to be a hypocrite and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the missing pokemon's possible escape route. Neither of them were hungry by the end of the day, which was odd considering that all they'd had all day was two oran berries each. At four they gave up on the search for a tunnel out and chatted about different things – sports, siblings, which song from band was their favorite (tubas and baritones only have decent parts in some songs). They washed the dirt from the greenhouse off at five and went into their rooms at six. The jet lag was still in effect, apparently.

Andrea still hadn't come back.

As she climbed into bed, Rachel realized she was still wearing her necklace. But it was midnight in Sinnoh, so she was too tired to care.

* * *

><p>Rachel turned onto her side to check the clock by her head. It read two in the morning, making her wonder why she wasn't more tired, but she soon remembered the time difference. She usually woke up briefly at eight on non-school days, then fell back asleep if no one was yelling for her to wake up.<p>

So she should have fallen asleep.

Her eyes opened in confusion. There was something going on above her. Hard thuds and muffled shouts were coming from the corner of the ceiling. She rolled over to look, only to find a heating vent.

_A heating vent… don't they connect rooms? Sound gets through vents easily. This one probably runs between this room and the other two…_

Rachel was suddenly wide awake. She threw the covers off and slid out of bed. Because she was barefoot, she didn't make any noise as she crossed the room she had shared with Andrea the night before. Rachel silently twisted the door's handle open and stepped out into the greenhouse.

There was definitely something happening in the Tepig room. Someone had carelessly left the door open, allowing Rachel to peek inside.

The room was a blur of leafy green vines and… just a bunch of green vines. Some were tinted more bluish than others, but it was all the same to her. Lucas backed into view, trying and failing to block the vines from hitting him. There was already a bright crimson welt along the side of his face, and more along his arms. Rachel didn't hesitate to kick the door open to try and help him.

She could fully see what was happening now. The vines belonged to a pair of snivies, which she recognized from the painting on her door. No painting, however, could have portrayed the cold, uncaring look in either pokemon's eyes. The bluer one told the other snivy something in pokespeak ("Vee."), causing the latter to withdraw his vines. The blue one followed suit, and immediately launched herself at Rachel, the leaf on her tail glowing bright turquoise.

Rachel attempted to sidestep the attack, but apparently the snivy had practice in maneuvering through the air. Her tail smacked Rachel in the side of the face like a hard slap. A few questions finally pushed their way into Rachel's mind.

_Why did they attack Lucas?_

_Why are they attacking us both?_

_What should I do?_

"Both of you, leaf storm." Rachel jumped; she hadn't realized anyone was standing behind her. She turned around briefly, just long enough to see–

_The receptionist?_

"Rachel!" Lucas said urgently. She glanced his way just in time to catch a pillow he threw at her. _What the heck?_

Luckily, she understood just in time. Using the pillow, Rachel blocked the whirlwind of razor-sharp leaves from hitting her face. There had been two pillows on the bed, and Lucas had the other. Her arms were getting scratched up and the pillow shredded to bits, but her face was fine. Thanks to Lucas.

Rachel's eyes met his and gestured at the door with a brief glance. He nodded and they both backed out of the room–

"Vine whip!"

The pillow in Rachel's hands flew over her head as the blue snivy's vines whacked it. Instead of hitting her, the pair of vines lashed themselves to her arms, like strings on a puppet. She tried pulling away, but the vines held firm. Looking to her left, she found Lucas incapacitated the same way.

"Leaf storm," the receptionist commanded. The pair of snivies powered up, even while the blue one yanked Rachel's arms away from covering her face.

"Duck!" Rachel shouted at the last minute. Lucas didn't need a second warning. Leaves barely missed their faces and necks, although Rachel distinctly felt some hair getting cut off.

It was Lucas who came up with it – he jerked the vines on his arms sharply to the right, making the snivy who had latched on to him fly right into the other one.

"Snivyy!" Both pokemon cried out in pain, loosening their grip in surprise. Rachel and Lucas pulled their arms away and made a break for the lobby.

Panting, Rachel said, "What happened?"

"I just woke up and got attacked," Lucas responded. "I don't know why."

For the first time in the entire trip, Rachel heard the other glass door open. Out of the sterile-looking hallway came Fennel, followed by a floating pink pokemon with flower patterns on it. "Is everything all right?" Fennel asked. Her expression was one of concern.

"The receptionist attacked us," Rachel said anxiously. "Well, I mean, she attacked Lucas, technically."

"Oh dear." Fennel frowned. "You two are still intact, luckily."

Rachel nodded. Lucas was his usual taciturn self.

"Munna, will you finish the job?" Fennel requested of the hovering pokemon. Rachel wasn't sure what job she meant, but assumed Fennel was referring to helping them fend off the snivies.

Nope.

"Muuuu~" Munna fired a stream of glowing yellow circles from the front of her head. Before either of them could react, the rings hit Lucas and appeared to diffuse through his t-shirt and into his chest. Rachel watched, horrified, as a bright pink luminance surrounded him. His eyes unfocused and slid shut, and as the glow around him subsided, he collapsed on the smooth tile floor.

Rachel's head whipped back around to see Fennel. "You too?" she said, not really asking but knowing. Fennel responded anyways, with a grim smile and curt nod.

_I can't run, _Rachel thought in a panic._ They know I won't leave Lucas and Andrea here. I can't leave, I can't stay, but I have to leave and I have to stay? What the h*ll?_

The impact of vines colliding with her knocked her breath away. The two snivies had recovered (really, it was about time) and secured their vines to her. Even as she struggled to get air back into her lungs, Rachel knew there wasn't any hope. There were twice as many vines as the number that had been attacking her before, and there was always the psychological restraint of Lucas and Andrea keeping her here. She gave up on trying to escape the vines.

"That was harder than anticipated," the receptionist commented. She had taken her headset off. "Miss Myers here overheard what was going on in the other room."

"No matter," Fennel shrugged. "I knew Juniper picked the wrong kids the minute I found that other girl eavesdropping on us talking about the experiment. I'll be almost glad when this is done. Munna, would you~?"

"Muun," replied the insanely girly-looking pokemon. A pinkish-purple incandescence encircled Lucas's limp form. He levitated, upright, like an invisible hand was holding him. But his eyes remained shut and his head hung to the side.

"This way," Fennel told Rachel. The odd group of two women, three pokemon, one unconscious boy, and one unwilling girl made their way over to the automatic doors Fennel had emerged from a few minutes ago. At the last minute, Rachel looked back over her shoulders. She could just see a blue speck of berry, still lying in the planters uneaten.

The narrow walkways and low ceiling gave Rachel the sense of being closed in. After a few turns and unlocking of doors, they entered a small room. It was roughly the size of a large bedroom, except there wasn't any furniture whatsoever. The entire room was concrete walls, ceiling, and floor. Rachel was pushed in and released. Rubbing her arms, she realized Munna was letting Lucas fall. She barely got her hands under his shoulders before his head would have hit the ground.

"Munna," Fennel scolded. "I said they can't be injured, remember?"

"Mu," Munna replied, not guiltily.

"We're leaving you here," the receptionist said. "Have fun." With that, she swung the door shut. Rachel heard several bolts locking them in.

She took in a shaky breath and lowered Lucas to the floor. She knew from watching trainers battle on the school team that hypnosis didn't last that long. He would wake up soon.

She sat on the floor by him. After all the unexplained events the previous day, it had seemed like nothing could confuse her anymore. But now…

_They were planning on using us all along_, she realized. _Even when Professor Juniper gave us the quiz in Twinleaf, she had the intention of using us as lab rattatas_. Rachel remembered she was still wearing her necklace. She reached up and took the little brass shell in her hand, hoping it would bring her comfort.

A groan came from next to her. Releasing the necklace charm, she watched as Lucas's eyes slowly opened. He sat up, rubbing the bruised vine mark on the side of his face. "$#%ing liars," he muttered.

"You okay?" Rachel said. He made a face. "I mean, are you okay considering that we're locked in a concrete room waiting for something to happen to us."

He managed a smile. "Yeah."

Something gave a click. "Hey, are you guys listening?" The professor.

"Nope!" shouted Rachel, ticked off at all the lies they'd been fed.

"We're about to conduct an experiment–"

"Naw, really!"

"–that we desperately needed subjects for. This is for the good of everyone in the world–"

"We don't care!" Lucas had followed Rachel's lead.

"–and we had to get test subjects somehow. Sorry for any misunderstandings you have had–"

"Sorry, my %#!"

"–but you might not mind the end result, if all goes well."

"Oh, NOW we're not going to worry!"

"I'm going to start the process now."

"No, just let us out." Lucas's last statement rang in the air, but then he closed his mouth. Rachel fell quiet too.

A sudden hiss penetrated their lapse in dialogue. It sounded like a balloon letting out air (but not in the way that sounds like a fart). It suddenly stopped. Rachel grimaced. "Here goes," she sighed.

Everything around the two teenagers went completely silent. Rachel's shoulders grew tense, like they were lifting an invisible weight. She held her breath, and judging from the lack of noise in the room, so was he...

Suddenly Rachel was drowning; drowning in a room without any water in it. She couldn't squeeze air into her lungs to drive away the water. She didn't see anything different about the place she was in, but she knew there was water and it was going to kill her. Rachel looked up, and she saw him, staring with scared eyes into her dying ones. He took her hand, hoping to comfort her. Rachel gratefully tried to smile in appreciation, even though her vision was already blackening around the edges. With her other hand she clutched her necklace. Just before she passed out, Rachel saw his eyes widen, as though it now was his turn…

* * *

><p><strong>Couple'a things here. First of all, hope you guys are enjoying it so far, even with the complete lack of action you had to deal with. I was trying to fine-tune the atmosphere of the story.<strong>

**Second, what is freaking_ going on_ with the flowers on Munnas? It's just unnatural. Honestly, Munnas are balloons without a string, and with flowers. They're probably among the weirder pokemon. Other weird ones are ditto, haxorus, and I'm not even going to go any farther because I just remembered how weird pokemon are in general. Also, I'm remembering when I was trying to find the right pokemon to "give" Lucas, and the Lucas in real life said haxorus is his favorite Unovan pokemon... ick. Thank goodness I found a better one to use.**

**Third is the relationship between Ally and Lucas in real life. On the offchance that you live in the right city, go to the right school, and know the right people, you may wonder if I'm serious about their relation. My answer is that Ally is a flirt with all the guys, and Lucas is her friend who could possibly like her. I know nothing more than that, since I'm not exactly going to ask them...**

**Fourth, the song mentioned in this chapter is Encanto by Robert W. Smith. It's really cool, and the baritone part goes up to a high soaring part. We're playing it this year in band. Oh yeah, this is also the song that Lucas took one look at and went "WTF?" The tuba and bass clarinet parts both have a twelve-measure-long note that they have to hold :3 Me and the person Jonathan is based on had a laugh over that before realizing it said "Stagger breathing", which means he can breathe if he wants to.**

**Fifth and lastly, what's up with me and my evil cliffhanger-writing-author-ness? I've done this for the last two chapters of Eyes of a Dragon, and now this too? XD**

**That's all. Anonymous reviews are on, so to my two friends who I'm sending this link to can review if they want. Just click the blue underlined words right here:**

** VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**VVVVVVVVVVVVV**

**VVVVVVVV**

**VVVV**

**V**


	3. So am I an Oshawott or not?

**WOW it took me forever to get this chapter done. I have a million excuses in varying degrees of acceptable and not so great. Most are homework related, and the one I like best is that my band went to a competition for four days. Just since we had so much fun ^_^ but now that the chapter IS out, there's a few things I have to say.**

**First off, if you're unfamiliar with pokemon, you're going to need to know what the ralts evolution line looks like. Especially the difference between gallade and gardevoir. It'll become clear as you read on.**

**Also, this chapter is dedicated to two of my friends. They're the people Miranda and Grace are based on, and I regret not giving them a bigger role in the story. I'll further elaborate on why this is dedicated to them at the end of the chapter.**

**All the other stuff I need to say would spoil the chapter for you, so see you at the bottom of the page.**

* * *

><p><em>Blue.<em>

That was the first thought that came to Rachel's mind. She was surrounded in a soft cyan world. The smooth, pale blue walls curved gently around her, like that of an opaque fishbowl. Light trickled through from above, giving the surfaces encompassing her the rippling illusion that comes from light passing through waves. Rachel was floating within it, some distance from the floor, but still quite a ways from the top. Her arms and legs were heavy, like they were in water.

_In water?_

She nearly panicked before realizing that, oddly enough, she could breathe. It felt like breathing in humid air, except the water was cool and didn't make her short of breath. Rachel pulled her arms through the water and swam a few feet forward. Despite that she wasn't drowning, it still acted like water.

"Good guess."

A soft voice startled her. She kicked her feet to turn around, and found herself facing a small, otter-like creature with a shell on its stomach.

An oshawott.

"Heyo," the pokemon said cheerfully. "I'm Eist. What's your name?"

She had to smile at his innocent joviality. "I'm Rachel. Do you know where we are?"

Eist seemed confused. "We're here, of course! Silly."

Rachel really didn't have anything to say to this answer. "Why are we here?"

"Why can't we be here?"

"No reason," Rachel admitted. "I'm just curious."

"Curiosity killed the delcatty," Eist recited joyfully, like a kindergartener saying what he learned today at school. Just as Rachel was starting to give up, he said, "Good thing we're not delcatties. We're both oshawotts."

Rachel's heart skipped a beat. "Are we?"

"Of course. You can swim, and you have a shell too, see?" Eist swam up to her and tapped the charm on her necklace.

"That doesn't mean I'm an oshawott, though."

"I know," he giggled. "But you are one, at least outside here. We combined."

Rachel spluttered out a lot of incredulous nonsensical non-words. "How?" she finally forced out.

"They explained it to me." Eist thought a moment. "Let's see… They took some dan from me and made it like your dan. Then they let my dan float around you… Until bam!" He clapped his tiny paws together. "Our dan turned into the same dan. It's not all of my dan, but enough to make you an oshawott."

Rachel had gotten lost at "dan." "What do you mean by dan?" she asked.

Eist scratched his head. "They spelled it out. I'm not great at people-letters, but I think D-N-A spells dan. Right?"

Understanding, Rachel smiled. "DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid. It's what makes me a human and you an oshawott."

Eist's eyes bugged out. "I'm an oshawott because of my dan?" He gave it some thought, and looked back at her proudly. "See? I told you you're an oshawott."

"You're saying Fennel and Professor Juniper took some of your DNA and mixed it with mine?" Rachel confirmed.

Eist nodded. "That's exactly right! But," he added, "it would be easier to say dan. I don't know why everyone likes spelling it out so much."

"Hang on, am I still human at all?"

Eist looked up and down her body. "You look human to me."

"Okay." Rachel took this in. "So you're part of me now?"

"Yeppy," he said brightly.

"Well, then you're going to be my friend, I guess." She figured it was the right thing to happen.

"YAY!" Eist cheered. Then he looked downcast. "But you have to go back out soon."

"What?" Even as she said it, Rachel knew what he meant. The peaceful blue world was fading away from her sight, replaced by the red of light coming through closed eyes…

"I'll always be with you, though. See you!" Eist swam off into the distance.

And Rachel opened her eyes.

She wasn't in the same concrete room she'd been in before. Rachel lay on a hard table that hurt her head. She sat up and took in her surroundings: It was a room not much larger than the one she'd passed out in, but much less nondescript. Across the room from her was a clear glass door. Computer monitors and equipment that was either lethal or lifesaving lined one wall, and hard white tables bordered the other. She had been on the table at the very end, next to the clean white wall. To her left she noticed another occupied table, and someone else sitting between her table and the other. Rachel recognized the boy lying on the table as Lucas, while the other person–

"Andrea!" Rachel almost shouted in surprise.

Andrea looked over. "Hey," she whispered, grinning. "Glad you're awake." She gestured at Lucas. "We have to be quiet. His experiment has already been faulty once."

"Faulty?" Rachel said with a frown.

"They combined us with pokemon. You and I went through it easily and the two genes fused fine, but something went wrong with his. We won't know what exactly it is that went wrong until he wakes up," she said before Rachel could ask.

Rachel nodded. Then she couldn't help but grin. "You just disappeared in the middle of the night! Where did you go?"

Andrea's expression turned puzzled for a moment. It cleared up, and she said, "To the bathroom."

"Yes, that's what you tol–"

"Well, I was _going_ to go to the bathroom, but the Professors were having this nice little chat about what they were going to do with us, and I couldn't help but listen in." Andrea grimaced. "They found me and did the experiment early."

"Right. So what exactly is the experiment?"

"Where they merge your–"

"Your dan with a pokemon's, but why?" Rachel cut in.

Andrea gave her a weird look. "Did you say dan?"

"Oops. DNA."

"Huh. Um, it's something about finding out if this method of making humans into half pokemon, half humans will work. Dunno how this would be a good thing, but there you go. Mad scientists," Andrea finished with a shrug.

Rachel's eyes traveled down and found Lucas's face. There was a small frown on it, like he wasn't having a good dream…

"Any idea what they're going to do with us afterwards?" Rachel asked suddenly.

Andrea shook her head. "I haven't asked."

There was a slight movement caught by the corner of her eye. She looked back down and realized he was awake. Rachel pulled herself into a cross-legged position.

Lucas sat up, blinked, and gave the two girls a funny look. "Why are you guys staring at me?"

Rachel broke out into uncontrollable giggles. While Rachel cracked up, Andrea was apparently bringing Lucas up to speed, since the first thing Rachel heard when she stopped laughing was, "Did you have a dream, too?" from Andrea.

Lucas replied, "Yeah, there was a ralts talking to me. He said he's me or something."

"Did he say anything about dan?" Rachel wondered.

"What?"

"DNA."

"That mine and his combined."

"So you're a ralts…" Andrea mused. "Psychic type. Wow."

"And if he's lucky, he'll turn into a gardevoir one day," Rachel added brightly.

Lucas's eyes widened. "H*LL NO…"

The door swung open. Seeing Professor Juniper through the panel, Rachel instinctually backed up on the table.

The professor smiled kindly – a smile Rachel no longer trusted. "Hey, you're awake. I think Andrea might have told you two a little, so I'll finish the job here." She pulled a chair out from under a rolling cart. On top of the cart was a heart stimulator. Rachel wondered nervously if the apparatus had been needed for any of them.

"When we put you in that room," Professor Juniper was saying, "we also let in some little appliances – ones too tiny to see. The process itself is complicated, but the general explanation for it is it combines your DNA with a pokemon's. It's a matter of finding the right chromosomes and whatnot, so it's not easy. We've been trying to perfect the method for years now. By this time, we've run out of test subjects, so we had to look elsewhere. It seems to have worked all right, though."

Andrea coughed conspicuously.

"Mostly all right," Professor Juniper corrected. "There's a few kinks still, but otherwise you three really got lucky. This experiment was by far a success."

"Hang on a minute." Rachel wanted to clear things up. "So we're part pokemon – How exactly are we like that?"

"If all is as expected, you should have your pokemon's abilities, full access to its moveset, and often times you may find yourself resembling it remotely," the professor listed. "So, let's say you were a pikachu. You'd be able to build up and store electricity in your cheeks, use thunderbolt and thundershock if you took the time to learn how, and you may find yourself with a tail sometimes."

"Oshawotts have shells," Rachel realized.

The professor appeared confused. "Yes, they do."

Rachel tried to think of how to restate it.

"Oh, I see. You have a shell, too." The professor indicated her necklace. "It's one of the reasons I selected you."

"You're not saying I'm going to have a flame on my butt, are you?" Andrea said suddenly.

"Not in most circumstances."

Andrea leaned back and let out a breath. "That's what I was afraid of," she muttered, shaking her head.

"I believe I've covered everything," the professor said. "Oh, but I think you might be able to evolve. There was an eevee subject once who took a fire stone." Professor Juniper concluded.

"So can we go home now?" Lucas finally spoke.

The professor wrinkled her nose, like she'd been avoiding having to answer that all along. "Er... There's one more test we need to do." When she answered, she appeared relieved somehow. "You guys need to come with me."

"What's the test?" Rachel asked, not getting up.

"You'll see in a minute."

"What's the test?" she repeated more intensely.

"It'll ruin the experiment if you hear beforehand. Now come on."

Reluctantly, Rachel slid off the table. Andrea stood, and Lucas dropped from the counter he was on. They followed Professor Juniper out the door and into the previously forbidden hallway. As they walked swiftly behind the professor, Rachel looked back at Andrea with a puzzled expression on her face. Andrea made a face and shrugged in response.

"Right here," the professor said, punching a password into a keypad. A solid steel door noisily slid open. She waved them in, and they tread slowly through the doorway. "See you in a bit." The door slammed shut behind them before another word was said.

Rachel took a look around. A spacious grassy field stretched from wall to wall, kept alive through both the clear ceiling overhead and a few small black sprinklers, one of which Rachel nearly tripped over. All of the walls had been painted with kindergarten-style trees, with nondescript rectangular trunks and a puffy green cloud for the leaves. The out-of-place steel door was matched by another, positioned across the field from it. White lines had been painted on the grass, like for a soccer game.

"What are we supposed to do here, have a picnic?" Andrea wondered.

As if in answer to her question, the steel door on the other side of the room rumbled open. Andrea's head whipped toward the other end of the room. "Oh, no," she groaned. "That's what the experiment is." Following Andrea's gaze, Rachel spotted three furry puppies bouncing merrily through the doorway Fennel had just left through. Each of them had a sweet face surrounded with fur, and huge ears above it. The pokemon were roughly as small as the average pikachu.

"What's the experiment?" Lucas asked, clueless.

"They want to know our moveset."

The puppies pounced simultaneously, each aiming for one of them. "HOLY $#%!" Rachel yelled, diving out of the way. "How are we supposed to fight if we don't know our own moveset?" she said, bewildered.

"You're an oshawott, right? The first moves water-type starters learn are usually tackle and leer. Try those," Andrea said hurriedly. "Maybe water gun or something."

"What do raltses know?" Lucas asked.

"Psychic type moves," she replied, avoiding a tackle.

"That's helpfu– GAH DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!" Rachel shouted, referring to the pokemon glaring at her. It lunged at her suddenly, barreling straight into her stomach and knocking the wind out of her. "Oof..."

_Rachel, tackle him_.

Rachel blinked in surprise. _Eist?_ she thought.

_Go on._

Feeling ridiculous, Rachel stood up and took a flying leap at the other pokemon. She fell just short of it.

Eist giggled. _Come on, you can do it._

She got back to her feet and ran after the little guy. When she figured she was close enough, she dove and this time, fell on the pokemon's back. He whined in surprise and wiggled out from under her.

_Yay! Good job, Rachel!_ Eist cheered. Rachel glanced over to see how Andrea and Lucas were doing – Andrea had grown claws. She was scratching at the puppy attacking her, although Rachel hoped the claws weren't permanent. Lucas was fighting with what weren't official moves: trying to hit the pokemon with his hand or foot when it got close. He had ralts genes, though – he should have been using basic psychic moves like confusion...

_Try focus energy_, Eist suggested. _Easy enough – take a deep breath_. Rachel did so. _There you go, you just did it._

_So I'm supposed to breathe a whole lot and then the pokemon attacking me will faint_, Rachel concluded sarcastically. She dodged another tackle.

_Nope. Use water gun now._

_Whaaa~?_

_You can do it._

_How?_

_Uh... you kinda... just... do._

Rachel smacked her forehead. _Thanks, Eist._

_You're welcome,_ Eist said brightly, not sensing the sarcasm.

Rachel went ahead and tackled the attacking pokemon again. It yelped and bit her hand. "Ow!" she yelled. "You're gonna get it..." As she chased the small pokemon, she realized there was something building in her chest. It was something unfamiliar, but it seemed to be... water?

"OHMYGOSH Get away!" Andrea was running. Wait – she was running _towards_ the pokemon she was telling to get away? "Don't be such bullies!" Rachel understood what was going on now; the pokemon had decided to gang up on Lucas, who was swearing loudly. Both had latched onto him with their teeth. "Get the heck off!" Andrea demanded, scratching at one puppy's back.

_Why would they team up on him like that?_ Rachel wondered, running over to help. She remembered something from a basic strategy book on type advantages. _Bite is a dark type move..._ she realized, pulling the tail of one of them. _Ralts is psychic. They've got a type advantage. _Lucas was attempting to shake a puppy off his hand.

_Water gun_, Eist repeated.

_How the heck do you_ – Rachel stopped. Of course. The water.

She could feel it – there were stories of energy in Sinnoh. Of grass energy that brought prosperity to the earth, electric energy that made thunderstorms dangerous and gave light to their homes. Of psychic energy that tamed obstacles, and of dragon energy that nearly destroyed the land. There was a recent story that the Sinnoh hero had followed a path of ghost energy to save the world. Dawn Hikari had covered for him in this world by fighting the other members of Team Galactic – her pokemon had mainly used fighting type energy.

So Rachel could use water energy to help the other Lucas.

She flexed the body of energy inside her. It bent easily at her will, and she wondered why she hadn't known to do this before. Bringing it into her hands, she thrust her palms forward. From her hands shot a jet of water, rocketing straight at one of the pokemon. She was surprised at the power of it – the stream was strong enough to knock the puppy off Lucas's leg. It yapped in shock and rolled several feet away, only to get back up. Rachel used water gun on the other pokemon, who let go of Lucas's hand and growled, no longer playful.

_Where's the third one?_ Rachel wondered.

Andrea lunged in her direction, claws out. The younger girl flinched, but Andrea went right past her and dug her elongated nails into the face of the pokemon sneaking up on Rachel. It gave a last whimper and fainted.

"That's one down," Andrea said, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Hey, come on," Rachel said in annoyance, shooting one of the puppies with water gun. It had been creeping up on Lucas again. "You just did that. Fight someone else."

"Who are you talking to?" Lucas wondered.

"The little something," she said, nodding at the puppy. "Whatever it is."

"Little something?" he repeated incredulously.

"Can't you figure out a move?" Andrea cut in.

"I'm trying. Ether keeps telling me how, but I can't make it happen," he told her. Rachel wondered briefly what Ether was, before realizing it was the ralts that had combined with Lucas. "I've tried confusion, double team, and even teleport. Nothing works."

"Magical leaf," Andrea said suddenly.

"What?"

"Magical leaf. All you've done are psychic moves and a move that's kind of psychic, even though it's normal type," she reasoned. "Magical leaf is grass."

Lucas thought about it – _Or maybe he's talking to Ether_, Rachel thought. She heard a rustle, and a small pile of leaves materialized from thin air. Lucas seemed surprised, but immediately thrust his hand at one of the last pokemon. It howled upon contact with the barrage of leaves.

"It worked," Andrea said happily, scratching at the other one. It growled and clamped its teeth onto her hand. "Ow!"

Rachel summoned the water energy back into her hands and launched it at the pokemon. The puppy in question squirmed and avoided the jet of water. Lucas brought up a shaky bunch of leaves, which scored a direct hit.

On Andrea.

"Hey! You're lucky I'm a fire type." Andrea glanced at the wall beside her and swung her arm – pokemon and all – into the solid surface. With a dull thunk, the puppy's head hit the wall. It released Andrea's hand and fell to the ground.

Something latched onto the back of Rachel's ankle, tearing through her skin. She stumbled and fell to her knees. Looking behind her, she caught a glimpse of the pokemon with a grip on her leg. She held her hand out to it and shot a stream of water. The puppy refused to let go, even after that. Grimacing, she barely kept herself from shouting out – that dog's teeth were _sharp_.

Already, Lucas and Andrea were trying to get it off. "Rachel, watergun it again," Andrea said quickly, scratching at the pokemon's ear. Rachel bit her lip in pain, drew water into her hands again, and tried to hit the puppy with the jet that came out. Due to her lack of focus, however, the flow of water that came was hardly enough of a hit to hurt the dog. Rachel tried to reach for the puppy with her own hands, but it moved away.

A shoe connected with the pokemon's skull with a solid thunk. The puppy howled and let go of Rachel. The force of the blow sent it flying straight into the painted wall, unconscious.

Breathing hard, Rachel looked up at the person who had kicked the originally cute dog. Lucas was staring in the direction of the puppy, not acknowledging that he had just helped her out.

"Thanks," Rachel said, her gratitude reflected in her voice. He glanced at her just long enough to see her expression, then looked away and shrugged.

Andrea helped Rachel to her feet. "If that's not the last test, I _will_ be ticked off," she commented. They weren't too badly hurt; there were a few bite marks or bruises, but considering the power most pokemon can harness, they were barely scratched.

"That was the last test, don't worry." Professor Juniper was walking through the still-open door.

"Don't worry?" Andrea repeated in disbelief. "You just sent three playful little pokemon in to attack us, and now you say don't worry about what's coming next? _Now_ we're not going to worry!"

Rachel was surprised. Andrea never talked that way to adults back home – then again, this was a special case.

"We were just testing to see what you can do," the professor waved it off, like she sent puppies to fight bewildered kids all the time. Which maybe she did. "That was an important test. It tells us how successful the fusion of DNA was."

"And?" Andrea pressed, "How successful was it?"

"Yours was fine," Professor Juniper said, nodding at Andrea. "Rachel, your was too. Lucas–"

"We already know Lucas's experiment got messed up," Andrea said impatiently.

"We know what?" Lucas said in shock.

"You didn't tell him?" Rachel realized.

"Didn't get around to it."

"Yeah, his got messed up, all right," the professor agreed. To Lucas, she said, "Learn as many physical moves as you can, and don't evolve into a gardevoir, okay?"

"Heck no I'm not gonna be a ga–"

"Why?" Rachel interrupted.

"Because it got messed up."

"Really!"

"Well, ralts is a psychic type, right? So is the rest of its evolutionary line, plus gallade is half fighting. According to this test, the psychic manipulation didn't get through completely. In other words," she said before Andrea could interrupt, "he can't use psychic-based moves. Magical leaf is only usable because it doesn't require a whole lot of psychic energy. He does have a little; it's just not enough to use, say, confusion."

"That sucks," Lucas muttered.

"No worries, dawn stones are easy enough to come by," Professor Juniper said lightly. "Anyways, that's all."

"YES! We get to go home finally!" Andrea cheered.

"Who ever said you're going home?"

Andrea's face turned serious. "What?"

"Think about it. Three kids get taken from their homes in one continent, and get experimented on in another continent entirely. They return home and become tragic little martyrs of an evil cause in the other continent. Do you not see the letters W-A-R all over this?" The professor shook her head wisely. "No, it's better for the kids to die in a plane crash and never return to their home country."

Rachel was at a loss for words.

Andrea wasn't. "What kind of scientists are you? You take lab rats from so far away that no one can complain until it's too late, and then kill the said lab rats–"

"I never said we would kill you. It's easily faked."

"Well, all right then, we'll just call home–

"Inter-region communication sucks. Each region has a different type of technology – Poketches, Pokegears, Xtranceivers – and no two work exactly the same. So they don't work together, either."

"Well, we'll board the next plane or boat to Sinnoh–"

"You would need a passport." The professor's smile grew triumphant. "To enter or leave the country, you need a passport. To get a passport, you need to be a citizen of Unova. That is, you have to be born here. You can get in or out with the permission of the champion or a prominent scientist, which is how you came here. Foreign security is very strict. And this time, I'm not helping you out. You three are free to live in Unova forever, and even be trainers if you like. Use your abilities as you wish, because they're yours now."

Andrea had run out of ideas.

"Can't we just tell the police?" Even as she said it, Rachel knew it wasn't likely.

"On the offchance that they believe you, they still support one of the leading science organizations of this era," the professor pointed out. "As long as we're helping humankind, they don't care. Anyways, we'll be getting you three treatment for those cuts, and if all goes well, we'll never see you again."

* * *

><p>Nuvema Town wasn't nearly as pretty or interesting when you knew you couldn't get home from it. From the edge of the stone fountain she was sitting on, Rachel had a perfect view over a cliff to the ocean. It was so calm… and so big… Even an oshawott wouldn't have been able to cross it. Much less a fire type or a psychic type with a disability.<p>

It had been only about half a week since they'd arrived in Unova, and already Rachel was missing home. Home, Twinleaf High, her annoying-as-heck sisters and parents. School – everything from messing around in band to staying up late for science assignments (well, maybe not). Beating every girl she didn't like in the mile each week, getting her projects on the wall where everyone would notice it. Her baritone horn, playing music. Her friends back in Sinnoh – Grace's support, Miranda's optimism, getting to laugh with them when otherwise she'd be down all day. Talking to them about things other people would scoff at or just not understand at all. It occurred to her that she'd never really known how important her friends were to her… and now that she'd realized it, was it too late?

She kicked her feet up onto the tan-colored ledge and absently rubbed the bite on her heel. The fountain was a happy, bubbling one, with statues depicting some sort of legend, according to a nearby brass plaque. Two stone dragons flew around each other, radiating the artist's idea of dragon energy and forming a circle from their two bodies. One was composed of obsidian, with a sparkling blue stone eye staring down. It flew above the second dragon statue, like it was changing direction at that moment to head back. The other swooped below that one, simultaneously looking up with its red pebble eye at the first dragon. It was made mostly from white marble, except for the eye. The pair of dragon pokemon formed what could pass as a yin-yang symbol, but with red and blue dots instead of black and white.

"Reshiram and Zekrom: the Vast White and Deep Black Pokemon." Rachel jumped; she hadn't seen Andrea coming up behind her. "Reshiram sides with the truth, what is meant to be, and what is real. He defends the accepted truth with everything in him. Zekrom chooses the ideal, what should be, and what can be done. She fights for a better world with all she has." Andrea paused. "It also says something about these two forces of ideals and truth making a balance of yin and yang, but that's not relevant at the moment."

Rachel frowned. "Why is the rest relevant?"

"So on one side, you have the accepted truth," Andrea described, moving her hands to the left. "On the other side," she flipped her hands around to the right, "you have ideals, which denies that accepted truth and says, 'this doesn't have to be reality'."

"So why is it relevant?"

Andrea's hands went back to the left side. "We're stuck here, and we're not going home. That's 'truth'. But it can change. That's 'ideals'." Her hands went right.

"Okay," Rachel said, getting to her feet. She faced Andrea. "So you're being poetic, cryptic, and getting nowhere in saying how this matters. I'm just saying," she added, assuming an innocent position. "I mean, we already know there's no good way of reaching our 'ideals'–"

"You got it!" Andrea said encouragingly.

"I did?"

"If the ideals are strong enough, they convince you to find a way to overcome truth. And I think there's a way to achieve our ideals."

"You have an idea?" Rachel perked up.

"Yeah. You know how you can't get in and out of the country without a passport or the permission of a notable scientist or champion, right?"

"Yeah…"

"The big notable scientist isn't letting us out. The champion, on the other hand–"

"Has no objection whatsoever," Rachel realized, eyes widening. "Andrea, you're brilliant!"

Andrea rubbed her neck modestly. "Not really, I just remembered it…"

"So we find the champion now… Where's the champion?" Rachel wondered.

"At the end of Victory Road, like Cynthia in Sinnoh. I've been asking around about him. His name is Alder, and he's about fifty years old. He traveled around the region recently, but now he's back at the Pokemon League. There was some sort of huge overthrowing of the League around the same time we had that Team Galactic incident in Sinnoh, so now he's staying there most of the time. We can just go and find him, and see if he'll help us," Andrea finished.

"Sounds like a plan," Rachel said with a grin. "Let's go, then."

"It's… not all that simple. We have to pack, and we have to go across the country–"

"Across the country?"

"Yeah. So we have our work cut out for us."

"Okay then, let's get go– Wait, where's Lucas?" Rachel wondered. Andrea shrugged.

It took them roughly half an hour to find him. In the end, he was walking along a side street in the direction of the laboratory. Lucas turned around when Andrea called out his name. "Hey –" she said, running to catch up. Rachel was right behind her. Andrea explained her idea to him. He listened quietly to the plan, not giving away an expression. "What do you think?" Andrea finished.

Lucas's eyes focused on something distant – _or_, Rachel thought, _perhaps nothing at all_. Several seconds later, he looked back at Andrea and nodded silently.

Hence they headed back to the dreaded labs to pack. The receptionist gave them a funny look as they walked in, but didn't think anything of it. Rachel had to run out and buy a trainer-sized backpack for herself and Andrea, since their stuff would be easier to carry that way (Lucas had one already). All she packed was soap and toiletries, clothing, and all the last-minute souvenir money she'd brought there. Andrea went out to purchase maps and emergency first aid. While she waited for Andrea to come back, Rachel decided to check on Lucas.

*knock*

No answer.

"Hey – can I come in?"

No answer.

"That means yes, right?"

No answer.

Rachel pushed the red-painted door open. Lucas was frowning at something in his hands. He glanced up briefly, then went back to messing with the apparatus. Rachel strode over to the bed and watched him try to make the gadget work. It looked like an everyday wristwatch, but the screen looked more complex than that of a regular digital watch. There were more buttons on the side, as well.

"It's an Xtranceiver," Lucas explained before she could ask. "I went and got it from that shop while you bought those backpacks."

"What for?" Rachel asked in surprise.

"Communication." He reached over to his bag and pulled out two more. "It's so we don't get lost. Here." Lucas held the devices out to her.

Stunned, Rachel took them from him. One was green, and the other was sky blue. The one in his hands was a darker shade of blue. "Um… thanks," she said. It really was a good idea, for just in case. "How much was it?"

"Twenty bucks each. Pay me back when we're in Sinnoh again," he added with a grin.

Rachel nodded. "Don't we have to register our numbers or something?"

"Did that at the shop. All the numbers are in our contacts list, too."

Rachel walked out, leaving him to work with his Xtranceiver. She went back into the snivy room and tossed the green appliance onto Andrea's bed. The blue one went on her wrist.

When Andrea returned, she found her Xtranceiver and finished packing the medicine. They left the rest of their original luggage behind, since it was too heavy to bring along, and headed for route 1. Technically, they were heading for the Pokemon League. To be completely accurate, they going to Striaton City, according to Andrea's map. However, it was understood between them that neither of these was the intended destination.

They were on their way home.

* * *

><p><strong>Meh. Not my best fight scene.<strong>

**Yes, the psychic-disability was necessary. I asked the person Lucas is based on about five million times what his favorite pokemon was, changing the question slightly every time. "What's your favorite pokemon" came out as latios, "What's your favorite Unova pokemon" was kyurem, "What's your favorite non-legendary from Unova" was haxorus… I was looking for one that would fit him, but none did. Not even a single non-legendary from any region. Hoenn was salamence, Kanto was gyarados. I think I wasn't willing to give him any of those because he's not much like any of them. They're all massive and sharp-edged and scary looking, and he's… not. Plus, I can't give a character too much power. So I gave up and wrote a list of what I'd be willing to make his character be, and showed him. The one he picked was gallade. So okay, problem solved… except it's a psychic type. The thing with psychic types is it's way too easy to fight in "real" life. You can completely disable them by spamming with psychic and knocking away moves, turning them back at the user, and moving the opponent all over the place. But I was otherwise satisfied with him getting gallade, and I didn't want to have to ask him AGAIN, so I let the experiment go wrong. The character Lucas remains not overpowered because of it.**

**So I told you about a competition… it was four days because it was too far away to drive back and forth every night. It was a Music in the Parks festival at a theme park, so we also got to go around the park when we weren't playing. My group had two of my friends (who you know as Miranda and Grace) in it, and we went around with one other girl and a group of three guys (two of whom you know as Lucas and Jonathan). It was a lot of fun, but there were complications… big ones. When the group of seven got ripped apart for the first time, I realized how important Grace and Miranda really are to me. They stuck by me the whole time and helped me stay sane when everything else was wrong. They showed me that what really matters when you need help is your friends right by you. Guys, thanks for being around, and sorry I was STILL an idiot after that.**

**That's the main reason the chapter is how it is. I almost included an event that's mostly based on a real-life one (Grace and Miranda – it was when we found Superman after he ditched on day one), but I didn't because it would completely counteract the dedication of the chapter. (I don't expect anyone but Grace and Miranda to understand the parentheses, either – it's coded)**

**Successful field trip, still :)**

**What a long author's note O_o Hope you liked the chapter, and click the little blue words at the bottom.**


	4. Truth, Ideals, and Justice

**Hey again! It's been a while. There's been a lot going on in my life, as evidenced by my revenge on someone this chapter. You'll see who it is soon enough :D**

**So Route 1 music is supposed to be very nice and cheerful – and from what I've heard of version Black' music, that's very true. I haven't heard any other music from Route 1's, but supposedly they're really similar in atmosphere.**

**Speaking of music, I was partway through this chapter when I realized: "GYAH I FORGOT LAST CHAPTER'S SONG!" To make up for it, this chapter has two songs.**

**On with the show!**

* * *

><p>"It's too cheerful-looking," Andrea commented warily.<p>

"Relax. It's how all Route Ones look," Rachel assured her.

The path they were facing was a narrow dirt road, interspersed with patches of tall, uncut grass. The route's edges were bordered with shorter grass as well, with trees after that. Up ahead, Rachel spotted the beginnings of cherry blossoms on branches that hung over the path. It was all very pretty and natural.

Which, of course, had to be a trick.

"Route One is meant to welcome new trainers to their journey," Rachel explained to her uncertain friend. "Of course it's cheerful-looking. If it was ominous and scary, the little ten-year-olds would go back to Professor Juniper's lab, screaming."

"If you're sure…" Andrea said uncertainly.

Lucas went ahead.

"Hey! I never said we were going yet!" Andrea ran to catch up to his quick pace, and Rachel followed suit. Not that either of them had to, since Lucas abruptly stopped right in front of a sign underneath the one displaying the words, "Route 1".

"At this spot, the Unovan heroes Hilda Touko, Hilbert Touya, Cheren Corbett, and Bianca Akasma set out on their pokemon journey at age 10. Since then, Akasma has become a well-known medical researcher, innovating medicine and technology that has since saved numerous lives of humans and pokemon alike. Corbett joined the police force of Nimbasa City, where crime has been all but eradicated thanks to his strength and quick thinking. All four heroes worked together to bring around the downfall of Team Plasma at the age of fourteen, though Touko and Touya are credited with bringing down the leaders. The latter two have each defeated the Champion multiple times, though both declined the offer to become Champion themselves. When these four bright minds first began their trip around Unova, Akasma suggested they all step out onto Route 1 at the same time. This sign has been erected to remind new travelers that any successful journey, no matter how long, begins with a single step."

Andrea finished reading out loud and turned back to the path.

"Hey! Let's do that too!" Rachel suggested.

"Yeah – Lucas, get back here," Andrea groaned, blocking him from reaching the first part of Route One. His laughing expression told that he'd been joking anyways.

"Let's go now… Ready, set…" Andrea made sure Rachel was ready; Lucas already was. "Go!"

So they set out on their trip the same way the heroes of Unova had just a few years before.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, the whole idea of "going on a pokemon journey" wasn't as much of a constant phase of excitement as Rachel had always imagined. They weren't meeting pokemon every few feet, the road was vacant of any potential battlers, and the road wasn't going to end anytime soon. The purpose of the overly happy scenery made sense: it was something to keep you from getting bored during the excessively long trip to Striaton City. On the other hand, there didn't seem to be much to worry about in the near future, and the scenery <em>was<em> pretty. A little monotonous after a few hours, but still fresh and natural.

They walked along quietly, mostly hoping the trip wouldn't be as long as it seemed it could potentially be. Hours flew by, with nothing to break the trek through the narrow path.

It was Rachel who broke the silence. "What's with the lack of pokemon around here?" she mused, sort of to herself, but also as a real question.

Andrea took it to be a question. "It's weird," she said, frowning. "This place should have plenty of pokemon – it's nice and far away from civilization, out in the wild, there's plenty of vegetation… We passed a pond of some sort, didn't we?" she asked Rachel, who nodded.

"This has been Route One for years," Lucas said, turning to face Andrea. "Route One is where all the excited little kids set out on their journeys. It's the beginning and they're excited, so a lot of the time they try to catch every pokemon in sight. The pokemon around here would be stupid to stay near the path after so many years of that."

Rachel thought this over. It seemed to make sense, actually.

"How'd you know that?" Andrea asked, sounding surprised.

"My brother went on a trip around Sinnoh like, ten years ago," he answered. "He caught a shinx on his first day."

"Shinxes are cool," Rachel said brightly.

"Not if they shock you when they're annoyed," Lucas disagreed.

"What did you do to your brother's shinx in the first place?" Rachel pointed out mischievously.

"Nothing! The stupid lion just got really pissed off–"

"And why was it pissed off?"

"–because my other brother put mulch in her food–"

"What? That's digusting."

"I know, and then he stuck the empty mulch bag in my bed. My brother's luxray actually fell for it and thought it was me who did that."

"After she ate the food?"

"After she got _sick_ from eating the food."

"Hey, we're actually not going to Striaton City first," Andrea suddenly said.

"What? Why?" Rachel saw that Andrea had taken out a map while she'd been talking to Lucas.

Andrea pointed to a circle on the lower right-hand side of the paper. "This is where we're heading. It's called Accumula Town. It's a spot between Nuvema and Striaton."

"It's so new trainers can get their way overworked pokemon to a Pokemon Center," Lucas declared, like he was reciting from a book.

"Your brother tell you that?"

"Mm-hm."

A few seconds went by. Andrea breathed in. "Hey, guys?"

"Yeah?" Rachel prompted her.

"I was thinking… as long as we're on this trip, should we–"

"No," Lucas interrupted.

Andrea stared at him. "…go on a journey of our own…"

"Nuh-uh."

"Why?" Rachel asked him.

"We can do this the fast way and ignore the eight-badge run and stalling for training every five seconds, or we can waste time and be in Unova for a few years," Lucas explained.

"That's harsh," Rachel commented.

"It's true," Lucas countered easily.

"Whatever. We don't have to do that anyways," Andrea decided. "It's just… you know, having pokemon for protection or whatever."

A burst of leaves materialized in front of Andrea with a snap. Startled, she jumped backwards.

"See? We don't need protection," Lucas said, making the leaves vanish.

Andrea stood there in shock for a minute, still looking with wide eyes at the place where the leaves had disappeared. She recovered and suddenly slashed an arm at Lucas.

It was his turn to freeze in bewilderment. He raised his hand to his shoulder, which had no outward signs of having been hit by a human-inflicted scratch attack, but seemed to hurt anyways.

"Karma," Andrea said simply, moving on.

"I didn't hit you with magical leaf!"

Andrea changed the topic. "Come on, let's get to Accumula before it gets dark." She kept moving.

Rachel looked at Lucas, who rubbed his shoulder in irritation and started going forward again. She followed close behind them.

Fortunately, Accumula Town was actually not as far as Andrea predicted. As they grew near, the route suddenly began to slope upward. It continued this way until the very top, where it flattened out and lead to a stone-paved city square. The entrance from Route One was situated in the middle of the town, if you were talking about altitude. Accumula Town had evidently been built in coordination with already-existing hills, since staircases had been built to climb them. Rachel wondered momentarily why the builders couldn't have just made streets that sloped up or down, but then realized the hills in the town were far too steep. The town contained a lot of open space, including a massive, open courtyard and a grassy field near the middle of the town. Tall apartment buildings and shops lined the borders of the town, and to the right –

"A pokemon center!" Andrea exclaimed cheerfully. "We're staying there tonight."

The pokemon center wasn't like anything Rachel had ever seen in books. For one thing, the four-story building towering in front of them was much larger than Sinnoan ones, which supposedly had two stories. It also had a sleek, modern look to it, with glass walls all around the first floor. The clear walls reminded Rachel of the Nuvema Laboratory in its style, but she hoped this place would bring less bad memories.

"Good morning!" the nurse greeted them as they walked through the door; it seemed to be a slow day.

"Uh… Good evening," Andrea replied, glancing briefly over her shoulder to confirm that no, it was not the morning anymore.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" exclaimed the flustered nurse. "Er… welcome to the Accumula Town Pokemon Center, do you want… aah… Do you want us to heal your pokemon?"

"No, thanks. Is there any place we can stay overnight?" Andrea asked smoothly.

"Oh yeah! That's what I was supposed to say! Um, yeah, I'll get you a room…" She typed something into a computer keyboard, shifted the mouse to click on something, and looked back up. "Trainer card?" The nurse held out her hand.

"What?" Andrea asked, clueless.

Apparently Lucas knew what the nurse meant, because his expression turned to one of shocked realization, and he swore under his breath.

"If you were a movie, you'd be rated R for the language alone," Rachel told him.

"What's a trainer card?" Andrea asked, frowning.

The nurse had on a surprised look as she explained, "Trainer cards are the license you get when you start out. It's what gives you free service at Pokemon centers. I assume you don't have one, then?"

"No. Guess we'll have to go somewhere else," Andrea sighed.

"Oh, you can't do that! I already got you a room and I'm at the part in the process where I can't cancel anymore –" She brightened suddenly. "Hey! You know, since this is the first town on the traditional trainer route, you can still get trainer cards."

"That's great! Where can we get them?" Andrea inquired.

"I think it's the building near the Route Two gate," the nurse replied. "Should be the first floor."

"Thanks," Andrea said. Then she turned around. "Where'd~?" She looked around for Rachel and Lucas, who'd disappeared. "Have you seen…?"

The nurse pointed out the door. Andrea spotted the two teenagers heading for the other side of town, and rushed after them.

"…it's not actually that hard. You just have to place your hands really fast, like…" Lucas mimed playing a piano at an extreme speed.

"Yeah, but that means it requires you to be _able_ to place your hands at that speed," Rachel pointed out. "And do it accurately."

Lucas shrugged. Andrea took the silence as an opportunity to chastise them. "Why the heck did you go so fast?"

"I was chasing _him_," Rachel defended.

"Hey," protested Lucas, "we left at the same time."

Andrea gave up. It had been a long day. "Okay, so it's over there?" She pointed towards the other end of the courtyard, where a tall building lay in wait. It was exactly identical to all the apartment complexes around it, except the main entrance was that of a shop's front.

Several minutes later, Rachel was signing a piece of legal paperwork that finalized her entrance to trainerhood. Not that she'd really use the trainer card for badges.

_I feel like such a cheat_… she thought reluctantly. _I'm not even a trainer; this is just for the pokemon center…_

The clerk handed her the printed card and she gave her thanks. Rachel exited the building into the gradually darkening world. By then, the sun was low enough in the sky to almost be considered sunset, except it was slightly too high for that. Rachel left Andrea to obtain her own card; Lucas had gone first.

Speaking of him…

"I said you _can't pass through_. What part of that don't you get?"

"I'm not passing through. I'm just trying to check the map inside."

Rachel turned and spotted Lucas, who was talking (arguing?) with an oddly dressed man and woman. Both strangers wore a creamy white, long-sleeved, button-down collared shirt under an open dark green vest. They both had on a pair of brown leather boots, although the lady's were less bulky than the man's. The young woman wore a pair of denim shorts that would only barely make the dress code at a high school, while the man had on dark brown pants. Both wore a wide brown belt around their waist, with six small pockets that would each fit a shrunken pokeball and loops for other items to slide in. Rachel additionally noticed that the woman had on a necklace with a single charm in the shape of a balance, like the type a medieval bank could have used to weigh gold or silver. This charm was far from being a precious metal, though: it was made from an impossible fusion of pearly white and the infinite color of midnight, with one color on either side of the balance. When she looked closer, Rachel spotted a badge on the left side of the man's chest, pinned to his vest and identical to the woman's necklace in every way except… well, duh, it was a badge. Hers wasn't. Both of the strangers had short, light hair that looked too stylish for Rachel's taste, and nearly identical accusatory glares – both of which were focused on Lucas.

"How _gullible_ do you think we are?" the man shot at him. "You can't make us fall for something that doesn't exist."

Lucas frowned. "Doesn't exist? The gate's _right there_. Of course it exists."

"No, you idiot, the map doesn't exist. You can't fool us by saying otherwise."

"Whoa hey," Rachel broke in, standing by Lucas. "He just wants to see the map."

"Another one," the woman snorted. "Look, you can pass right through later, but right now you can't. Understand?"

"I just wanna see the map," Lucas repeated.

The man stepped forward as though to strike him, but the woman blocked his way. "Do you _want _to ruin Team Justice's reputation before it even exists?" she hissed.

"Team what?" Rachel echoed.

The lady waved her hand dismissively. "You'll see later. Shouldn't be too long now. But anyways, we're not letting you through this gate for a bit. And there's no map in there, either."

"Go away now," the man said briskly. He reached forward and gave the middle of Lucas's forehead a small shove – enough to make Lucas's head lurch backwards, but not strong enough to push him over. "We'd rather not be dealing with kids."

Rachel opened her mouth to protest – they weren't freaking _kids_, and who did he think he was, to push a stranger around like that? – but Lucas headed back before she could say a word. With a glare towards the human roadblocks, Rachel turned and went after him.

When she caught up, she tried to catch his eye. "How are you so passive?" she asked incredulously. "He just did a… well, heck who knows what that was… but anyways, you just walk away from that?"

He gave the bush by her an emotionless look. "Why not?"

"Cause… I dunno, he just facepalmed you–"

"You can't facepalm another person."

" –and you just walked away, like no big deal."

"You can only facepalm yourself."

"Kay then, he pushed your forehead. Either way, you still got assaulted by a complete stranger," Rachel reminded him.

"Whatever."

"You don't care?"

"No."

"Aah…" Rachel stopped and stared at him disbelievingly. He stopped and turned around, but didn't look her in the eye. Not knowing what else to do, she lightly pushed Lucas's forehead, the same way the man had earlier. His mouth spread into a quietly amused smile.

Andrea came out of the building, shoving a card into her backpack. "Hey. Okay, we can head back now."

The trio headed back to the four-story building across the plaza. The sky had turned a dim reddish-gold, and somehow the sunset was a cue for most of the townspeople to come out. Rachel noticed that most of them – no, all of them – were heading for the park.

"Let's go see," Rachel decided spontaneously.

"Hey, wait – " Andrea protested.

Rachel strode in the direction of the field, knowing Lucas and Andrea would soon follow. A crowd had gathered around the edges of the field, kept back by adults in the same strange getup as the duo blocking the gate. Rachel found an open space right at the corner of the park, near a railing that prevented anyone from falling over the concrete edge behind it; there was another level below, connected by a staircase fifty feet away.

She didn't have to glance back to see if Andrea and Lucas were following; a hard object roughly the size of a fingertip jabbed her shoulder. "Ow!" Rachel exclaimed, poking Andrea back. The latter just laughed.

"What does liberation mean?" Lucas asked softly.

"Uh… setting something free," Rachel replied. "Why?"

Lucas pointed to a group of older teenagers near them. "I thought the idea of pokemon liberation died out with Team Plasma," a girl with bright aqua hair said. Her silver headphones were blaring out a song Rachel recognized as Groovee, a band arrangement she remembered from middle school.

"Not really. Ideas don't die out. I guess these guys just remembered the ideas more strongly than others," a tall boy with a deep voice suggested.

"I hope we don't get a Team Plasma repeat," a girl with hot pink hair and eyes muttered. "That was a disaster."

"Trying to overthrow the pokemon league is not good for the idea of liberation," the boy agreed. "Much less for the people who wanted it."

"...Excuse me?" Rachel nearly facepalmed; of _course_ Andrea would go ahead and let them know they were eavesdropping. "What exactly do you mean by pokemon liberation?"

The blue-haired girl gave her a funny look. "You mean you didn't hear about the Team Plasma scandal? That's hardly possible."

"We're… kinda new to this area," Andrea explained. Rachel coughed loudly.

"Huh," the boy grunted. "Well, a year or two ago, there was an organization called Team Plasma. They wanted humans to let their pokemon go, since they felt that pokemon couldn't reach their full potential with humans around. So they got more support, took people's pokemon by talking them into it and through force, and maybe a year after they got started, the leader, Ghetsis, let slip that they actually _didn't_ care about pokemon liberation; they just wanted to rule the region."

" 'Let slip' meaning 'announced it after building a friggin' fortress around the pokemon league'," the girl with blue hair cut in.

"Yeah." He continued, "So the whole organization sort of fell after these two teenagers went and flat out beat him and his son in a pokemon battle. But I guess the ideas of setting pokemon free stuck around, and now they're back again. That's all."

"Thanks," Andrea said to him. The boy nodded and started talking with his friends again.

"Is this what happened at the same time as our Galactic thing in Sinnoh?" Rachel voiced.

"Probably. It's not every day something like that happens." Andrea frowned. "Liberation… What a way to manipulate people."

A hush settled over the crowd, and Rachel turned around. A young man in a white dress shirt and tan trousers strode briskly towards the center of the park. His overshirt was open to a black shirt underneath it. A bulky watchlike apparatus was fastened to one wrist, and several geometric bracelets to the other. Below his collar dangled a necklace with a single charm hanging from it; Rachel couldn't see him particularly well, but she guessed it was the same pendant the lady guarding the gate had been wearing. Hanging from a chain on his belt was a Rubik's cube, already solved. The man was tall and slim, with the sort of long, delicate fingers any piano player would envy. However, his most striking feature was the long green ponytail that came out from the back of his black and white baseball cap. His hair rivaled that of a kirlia in color and length, although it appeared less girly and more of someone's attempt at "cool." When he looked up at the crowd, Rachel saw that his eyes were a bright, startling green.

He smiled. "Citizens of Accumula Town, I welcome you, and thank you all for coming to attend this historic moment. Some of you may remember me, though for reasons I wish to leave behind. For those of you who are new to this subject, my name is N, the former 'king' of Team Plasma." He raised his fingers to put quotes around the word "king."

"Several years ago, Team Plasma set forth on a mission to bring equality between humans and pokemon. We called it 'liberation,' and it meant that pokemon would no longer be confined to the small traps we call pokeballs." N turned his head to the other edge of the park, and Rachel had to strain to hear him. "The mission was a near success; humans realized their mistakes and some began setting their pokemon free. Our ideals were being reached. Suddenly, just as Team Plasma was at its peak, the world discovered that the organization so faithfully searching for equality had been corrupt from the very beginning. Plasma fell soon after."

"As the so-called 'king' of Team Plasma, I was shocked to hear of the Seven Sages' true motives. And after knowing of all that, I couldn't have been more glad to hear of the dishonest association's final downfall."

"However, the ideas planted by Team Plasma had already been spread. I was far from surprised; after all, these ideas were nothing but truth! Pokemon are not lesser beings; far from it. As a young child, I befriended a number of pokemon who had been mistreated by their trainers. I learned the lesson that humans controlling pokemon could mean nothing good."

N finally turned back in their direction. "I began a short journey a few years ago, to see what being a trainer was like. Along the way, I met a boy and girl travelling around Unova together. The region knows them well: Hilda Touko and Hilbert Touya. These were no ordinary children – their pokemon loved them, and this bewildered me. I had never seen a pokemon love a human before! Over the years, I started to see from these two teenagers that humans weren't always bad, after all."

"Then I left the country with Team Plasma's downfall. Some called me a coward; I simply needed time to regain a sense of truth. Of reality. The next few years I spent watching humans interact with their pokemon, trying to make sense of what I found. And what I saw wasn't pretty. The heroes of Unova had been a special case, and there was rarely, if ever, another human who treated pokemon with the same respect. This was nowhere near the ideals of either the justified Team Plasma or the corrupt one. My original interpretation of the world returned, along with a sense of justice to set things right."

"Truth is what it is. There's no changing it. Ideals, however, are what could be – a hope for a new truth, better than anything was before."

N's eyes filled with determination. "Now, people of Accumula, we have entered a new era! With your help, the ideal world of liberty will be achieved. Upon my return to Unova, I brought together a team from those who still believe that pokemon should be independent, as they were all the years before the invention of the pokeball. Team Justice is devoted to setting these wonderful creatures called pokemon free from the naturally abusive nature of the human – to finding justice, you might say. Our goal is to find this ideal – and make it the truth."

"Thank you for listening."

N walked back out, and the crowd broke into applause. The clapping ranged from shades of absolute enthusiasm to polite acknowledgement.

"I thought the other guy was the leader of Team Plasma," Andrea commented.

The teen who'd explained it to her earlier overheard. "Technically, he was. N was more of a figurehead who thought he was in power, which is seriously disgusting considering that N is Ghetsis's son."

"Aiyah," Andrea said in agreement, frowning.

"Anyways… See you around," he said, running to catch up to his other friends.

"This whole idea of liberation is so controversial, I can't figure out a good opinion," Rachel commented, laughing.

"N has strong opinions, but a lot of them are sideways," Lucas said, sounding concerned. "He's seen too much of one side of the story. Pokemon really often do anything for their trainer. Usually they can leave if they want – at least in Sinnoh. Unova shouldn't be too much different."

"I heard Hoenn or Kanto or someplace has different laws regarding pokemon. Like, sometimes a pokemon who disobeys will just naturally get punished, since that's normal protocol," Andrea remembered.

"Maybe N went there," Rachel suggested. "Hey – We can ask him."

N was heading towards the (now unblocked) Accumula Gate. "Come on!" Rachel called briefly, turning to sprint in his direction. She waited until Andrea and Lucas were beside her to ask. "Excuse me?"

N turned around and smiled. "Hello. May I help you?" Rachel saw that his necklace charm wasn't the one worn by the other Team Justice members. Instead, he wore a blue and yellow planetlike pendant there.

"Um, I was wondering what region you lived in after Team Plasma disbanded."

Was it just Rachel's imagination, or was N giving the three of them a strange look? "I never heard the name of the region; I just stayed there for a while without knowing quite where I was."

"What pokemon were there?" Andrea asked. "Different pokemon are more common in certain regions."

N continued to give them a scrutinizing look. "There seemed to be an abundance of swellow and stantler in the forest where I stayed."

Andrea put on a look of concentration. "Hm… Could be Hoenn…" she mused.

"May I ask what sort of humans you are?" N said politely.

"Er… what?" Rachel blurted out, confused.

"For example, trainers, students, pokemon center helpers…"

"Oh! Um… Well, we just got trainer cards," Andrea mentioned.

"Ah! That would explain it!" N's expression cleared up most of the way, but still seemed like it was skeptical of his solution. "I'm sensing a distinct air of pokemon around you. Would you mind showing me your friends?"

An awkward silence caused N's face to cloud back up again. "Is there any reason you'd rather not show me?"

"It's not that… it's just… we _can't_," Andrea tried to explain.

N's friendly eyes turned into more of a stare. Somehow he seemed to be sensing something… off. "I see." Suddenly he smiled, but everything about the smile was insincere. "Lilka, I know I can hear you… but why won't your trainer tell me about you?" he asked.

Rachel and Lucas glanced at each other in confusion, but Andrea tensed. N seemed to be listening to something only he could hear – or, something only he and Andrea could hear, judging by the startled look on her face. Rachel took a guess, and deduced that Lilka was the pokemon fused with Andrea. Eventually N nodded. "Thank you, Lilka."

N stared at the ground for a few moments, like he was considering something. He wore a displeased frown on his face. Finally, he looked back at them. Rachel saw cold hatred in his eyes, which was odd considering he'd only known them for about three minutes.

"Humans combined with pokemon." He said these words carefully, as though they were going to explode if he said enunciated it the wrong way. "The ultimate way of enslaving a pokemon."

Rachel was shocked. "Enslaving? What is this, the Johto Civil War?"

"The pokemon within you can't ever go free again. They are chained to you by the confines of your own cells – and worse, your own mind," N accused. "Calling this anything but slavery would be a mercy. After seeing so many pokemon in pain throughout my childhood, mercy is not my strong point."

_Hey!_ Rachel jumped – had SO not been expecting that. _I like Rachel!_ Eist shouted from inside her. _She's my friend, not my… my… um… Well, anyways, she's my friend!_

"How very sweet of you to say so," N said, using a slightly less harsh tone. "What is your name?"

_Eist_, the oshawott said warily.

"Well, Eist, while it's not the first time I've heard that said by a pokemon, I've heard the exact opposite far more times than I can count," N told him brusquely. "And besides, I get the feeling you haven't known Rachel long enough to know that for certain."

Rachel wished Eist would counter that, saying he still knew her well enough not to doubt her, but he was silent. Apparently he was about as good at comebacks as Rachel herself was.

N shook his head. "Such a form of captivity cannot exist…" His eyes turned to bore into Lucas's, probably since he hadn't interacted with him so much. The stare was clearly meant to intimidate, but Lucas's expression didn't change. In another, less serious situation, Rachel would have laughed at their ridiculous almost-staring contest. N soon gave in and closed his eyes. "You three – get out of my sight."

"What the heck?" Andrea said wonderingly.

"Now! Before I change my mind!" N reached for a pokeball threateningly. Rachel nudged Andrea, starting the walk back to the pokemon center. Lucas kept pace beside them.

"And if I ever see you again," N growled after them, "I won't hesitate to get rid of this imperfection!"

* * *

><p><strong>So, first of all, mulch. For those of you who don't know, mulch is like fertilizer. It helps you grow stuff. The description of mulch, as given by a lady in the games, is, "high grade soil (mixed) with Pokemon... um... you know..." Ma'am, just say it's made of dirt and poo. Thank you.<strong>

**The first song wasn't mentioned by name – it was the part where Rachel and Lucas are talking about an insanely fast song on piano. You may have heard of it: it's "Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz" by John Stump. The sheet music looks impossible, and the piano tutorial even more so, but there are adaptations of it that are more or less possible. I think the real-life Lucas knows how to play part of it, so I put it in there.**

**The second song was mentioned directly. Groovee is the song that defines my seventh grade year's concert band. I myself wasn't in it, but had some friends there, including Miranda and Grace. The band's favorite song was Groovee by Richard Saucedo, and even though it's relatively easy, it's a nice piece to listen to.**

**We get on to the whole facepalming thing. This, my friends, is revenge on Lucas for when he told us he'd stay somewhere on a field trip, waiting for us, and roughly five minutes later he was gone. Miranda pushed his face on an earlier band field trip, when another friend of mine said, "You're so emotionless," to him. His reaction was... well, nothing. His head went back once, then returned to normal. And his expression didn't change. I was considering doing this to him after he ditched us two weeks ago, but... I dunno. Miranda is just completely not awkward a lot of the time. Hence this was my revenge (I know, I feel lame too T_T)**

**Andrea used to poke me A LOT last year... haven't seen her in a while, since she's in a different band, but next year... eh boy. WHOA WAIT She poked me IN THE ARM a lot... tch. Perverts.**

**One last thing: I know Black and White 2 are coming out soon. However, this story will continue to be based off of versions Black and White 1. This is sort of an alternate sequel to the storyline of Black and White :D I don't now for sure that I won't take any elements from the new games when they come out, but definitely expect the gym leaders to be the ones in the first Unova games.**

**Kay then! Read, review, enjoy! Oh... kinda late to say that...**

**EDIT: Miranda objects to being called "completely not awkward a lot of the time." She says she's just "awkward." ;D**


	5. One Thing

**I! HATE! WRITER'S BLOOOOOOOOCCCKKK!**

**I got it every few paragraphs/sentences this chapter. Ugh. Like any other writer, I could rant about writer's block all day, but you're not interested. Read the chapter. It's right below this.**

* * *

><p>Rachel lounged on a lower bunk in the Pokemon Center room Andrea had gotten. Her hair was wet from her shower several minutes ago. Andrea and Lucas were still down the hall in the Floor Two public bathrooms.<p>

The accommodations at the Pokemon Center were pretty much what she'd expected would be available: a pair of bunk beds side by side, a few shelves on one wall, and a door on the wall opposite the shelves. Not particularly fancy, but hey. The fact that they provided free lodging at all was already really nice.

Scrolling through the list of songs on her iPod, Rachel allowed herself to zone out. Her mind returned to what had happened earlier that evening…

"_The pokemon within you can't ever go free again. They are chained to you by the confines of your own cells – and worse, your own mind. Calling this anything but slavery would be a mercy…"_

It wasn't that she disagreed – she actually felt N had a point, which was what was bothering her. She was an abnormal link between humans and pokemon, where the pokemon involved couldn't do much more than talk to her. Eist was stuck, with no way to fight for himself or make his own choices. He had to go along with whatever Rachel was doing, and he had no say in the matter. He could try to convince her to do something as much as he wanted, but she still had the final say. So far he didn't seem to mind a whole lot, but what if things changed? What if she made a decision that produced a failure, and Eist knew the choice that would have brought success? His own reputation was beyond being directly impacted by hers: it _was_ hers. And his freedom was as good as nonexistent.

"…_chained to you by the confines of your own cells…"_

Rachel wanted so badly to blame Professor Juniper for Eist's imprisonment, but she knew it was just diverting her attention from feeling guilty about _being _the prison. It wouldn't have been so bad if Eist had a little more freedom, but it seemed he didn't, so…?

She glanced up as the door opened. Lucas walked in with his hair dripping and a bundle of clothes in his hand. He tossed the clothes onto the bunk opposite the one Rachel was on, vaulted onto the bed after it, and then looked over at her.

Rachel, meanwhile, was trying not to laugh. "What?" Lucas said, sounding mildly offended.

"Uh." _How do I put this?_ Rachel wondered. "Your hair is wet," she finally decided to say.

He gave her a look like she was a little crazy. "…your hair is wet too," he said after a few seconds' pause.

"It looks funny wet." It usually stuck up a little, but with water, his hair was flat.

Lucas didn't take the weirded out expression off his face. "Okay…?"

She shrugged and went back to scrolling through her iPod. Giving up, she took the earphones out of her ears and tossed it on her bed. "There's no good songs," she sighed.

"I thought you had ones from band on there," he pointed out.

"Yeah."

"What about Foundry?"

She thought about it. "Doesn't fit my mood," she disagreed. She gazed at her fingers, which were fiddling with the earphone wires.

"Oh, _that's_ what you're trying to do."

"What's what I'm trying to do?" she asked, surprised.

"Match your mood with a song?"

"Close," Rachel confirmed. She dropped the earphones and stared at her bedcovers. "More like change my mood with a song."

He didn't respond for a few seconds. Then he said, "Is something wrong?"

"No. I mean yes. Yeah. Maybe."

The silence that followed didn't sound like the end of the conversation, even though Lucas didn't say anything. It was like he was just waiting for her to explain instead of asking her. She glanced up to confirm this – his eyes were trained on her expectantly.

Rachel sighed. "It's N. Before we talked to him today, it never occurred to me what was going on with the pokemon fusion thing. And it's like now I've suddenly realized that having pokemon inside us is unnatural and barbaric and takes away their freedom, and a guy who used to be a king hates us because the pokemon can't do anything about it, and we're stuck with pokemon who can't ever get out again inside us. Everything N said was true, and eventually even the pokemon we're fused with will start to resent us."

"It can't be as bad as that," Lucas said.

She grimaced. "During the battle this morning, where we were pitted against those puppy pokemon, Eist would tell me what to do, but he couldn't _make_ me do it, and he couldn't do it on his own. They've got no rights."

"Two things. One," Lucas began, pointing to the gadget on his wrist, "your Xtranceiver has a built-in pokedex. It's surprising Sinnoh hasn't thought of doing this yet, but there you go. The pokemon were called lillipups. You might want to look into Unovan pokemon sometime, just to see what we might come across."

"When did you do look through the Unova pokedex?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"The trip from Nuvema to here took hours; I had plenty of time. Two, do you mean Eist hasn't done anything to you?"

Rachel had no idea what he meant. "_To _me? Uh. No…"

"Huh. Maybe he's nicer than Ether… or it's a side-effect of the experiment gone wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

Lucas tensed. Suddenly his voice was urgent. "Ether, no. You don't have to demo –"

A flurry of leaves materialized in front of him. They silently dropped to the ground. Lucas exhaled. "Oh. Well, that's all right."

This didn't clear things up. "What was that?" Rachel wondered.

"Ether did that; not me. He can control me sometimes, if he feels like it. So it's less him riding in my body than us sharing it."

"It could easily have been you who did that, just now." Too late, Rachel realized that was the wrong thing to say.

"Watch out," Lucas warned her quickly. She backed up as a second cluster of leaves appeared in the air. "Ether, it's fine. She believes you…" he said warily. The sharp-edged leaves turned on him and started to strike his face. "Hey!"

"Okay, Ether, I get it!" Rachel yelled, not caring if residents of other rooms overheard.

The leaves froze in midflight, then vanished. Exhaling, Lucas ran a hand over the small, papercutlike lines now scattered across his face. "It's been worse," he said to Rachel's horrified expression.

"Has Ether always done this?" Rachel asked, alarmed.

"Pretty much. I don't think he's done it in front of you guys much," Lucas explained.

"You said it's been worse," Rachel noted.

"It has. This morning, when we were packing, he kept trying to make me find Professor Juniper and attack her. For revenge," he added, answering the question Rachel had been about to ask. "He took the getting-fused-with-a-human thing really hard."

"But that's what I was just saying!" Rachel pointed out. "That they've lost their rights and all that crap you probably didn't listen to in eighth grade history."

"Yet he almost succeeded in making me do that. He can't have lost everything."

"Like, he got you to go up to Juniper and try and magical leaf her to death?"

"Almost."

She considered this. Then she frowned. "How did you get paired up with such a violent pokemon?"

"I don't know. Kind of a stupid one too. Ether, don't assault me for saying that…"

_Eist, can you do that too?_ Rachel questioned.

Eist was oddly silent. Then he spoke up_. I never tried. Can I?_

_Try_, Rachel encouraged.

Just as she said that, she sensed a shift near her heart – the water energy, she realized. Her hand raised of its own accord and shot out a weak stream of water, like what might come from a garden hose turned on halfway. She gasped for two reasons – one, her hand had seemingly moved on its own! Creepy! And two, the stream of water had gone straight across to the boy sitting on the opposite bunk.

A stunned silence followed. Rachel didn't know what to say, and Lucas… The front of his black t-shirt and part of his jeans were completely drenched, and water dripped from his now soaking hair onto his shoulders. His face was frozen in astonishment and splattered with water droplets. What was _he_ supposed to say in a situation like that, either?

Neither of them broke the silence. _Uh… oops_, Eist said guiltily.

Rachel groaned. "Eist," she scolded, "say sorry."

_Sorry_, Eist sang.

"I mean it!" Rachel snapped.

_Sorryyy_, Eist giggled.

"You idiot," Rachel huffed, rubbing her forehead in embarrassment.

"I don't think Eist needs to apologize." Why did Lucas's voice sound so strained?

Rachel looked up. "Why – AAH!" She shrieked as a magical leaf flurry rushed into her face, spreading shallow cuts across it. Just as suddenly, it stopped.

"Again with the violent pokemon," Lucas said in annoyance.

As she glanced over at the boy across from her, she was seized by a sudden surge of spontaneity. Rachel collected water energy behind her fingertips, then let a watergun spurt out all over her shirt. Lucas looked surprised, and puzzled – "Now we match," she explained, grinning ruefully. "It's all fair now."

Andrea walked in, her hair blown dry – _That's what took her so long_, Rachel noted. Andrea was giving the two waterlogged teenagers a disbelieving look.

"…You do know you're supposed to take your clothes _off_ before taking a shower, right?" Andrea said skeptically.

Rachel sat bolt upright, hitting her head on the bunk above her. "I'm not taking my clothes off!" she yelped.

Lucas started laughing.

* * *

><p>Once the pair of ridiculously wet teens had changed clothes (in the BATHROOMS thank you very much), they were set for bed. Andrea switched the light off and climbed up to the bunk above Rachel's.<p>

"Hey, Andrea?" Rachel suddenly remembered.

"Yeah?"

"How long were we out, before this morning?"

"You mean before you and Lucas woke up?"

"Yeah."

"About a day."

"A whole day?"

"Yeah… Well, they didn't provide energy to fuse the DNA. They used your body's energy, which was why you were out for so long."

"No wonder we're not feeling jetlag anymore."

In the hush that followed, Rachel unfastened her necklace and lay it on the floor beside her. "This is going to work, right?" she wondered in a low voice.

"Don't worry about it," Andrea reassured her. "We'll get home again."

"Kay," Rachel yawned, hoping she didn't have to question Andrea's response.

* * *

><p>When Rachel's eyes opened again, she found herself in the same blue world she'd been in when she first met Eist. So it was no real surprise to find an oshawott suspended in the water in front of her.<p>

"Hey there!" Eist chirped. "I didn't mean to shoot Lucas with water, but Ether had it coming anyways."

Rachel glared at the oblivious water type. Eist tilted his head sideways. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked, sounding a little concerned.

Rachel gave up and ran her hand through her hair – which wasn't easy, because it and her necklace were floating around in the water. This guy was _impossible _to deal with. Also impossible to stay mad at, as evidenced by the grin fighting its way onto her mouth. "Eist, you shot Lucas with water, not Ether," she told him.

"Nuh-uh, I shot both of them! That's not just Lucas anymore, and this isn't just you anymore." Eist stopped to think about that. "Uh, no offense, cause I think you were okay to begin with…"

"Oh yeah," Rachel said, remembering Ether's sporadic control over Lucas. "So that's… Lu… ther… Luther? He doesn't look like a Luther."

Eist giggled. "Maybe he's Ethas."

"So what's that make me? Racist? Wait…"

"Nah, let's just call you Rachel," Eist suggested, still laughing. "And Lucas is Lucas."

"And Andrea is Andrea," Rachel added. "I'm glad you have more leverage than I thought. Even if it means you can make me soak Lucas with watergun."

"It was _Ether,_" Eist insisted.

"Yeah, sure." Rachel looked around. "You never did tell me where we are," she realized.

"Sure I did. We're here, remember?"

"Where is here, though?"

"It's kind of hard to say… I think it's the place where only we get to be. Just you and me, and no one else," Eist said. "Like a special ren-dezz-vows place," he said, sounding proud of his vocabulary.

"Oh. Okay." Rachel glanced up. "And what's up there?"

Eist leaned back to look up. "The surface, I guess. Wanna go check?" he asked eagerly.

"Sure."

They kicked their way up the top of the water and poked their heads out. "Whoa," Rachel breathed.

Everything in view was sky – specifically, night sky. The midnight blue sky above them was so dark it was almost black. Stars were strewn across it like ground glass bits on a road. There wasn't anything to their left or right – just more sky. No lights were there to outshine the stars, so almost every one up there was easily visible.

"Wow," commented Eist. A few seconds later, he added, "Doesn't look like we're leaving here any time soon."

Rachel could see what he meant – like the predicament of being fused with another living being, neither of them could possibly get away from the water-filled chamber in the middle of nowhere. "Bu li kai," she murmured.

"Whaa?" Eist said, confused.

"Bu li kai – 'Not leaving' in Mandarin. We're not going anywhere from here," Rachel explained.

"Ohh." Eist took some time to consider something. "No vas."

"Uh… Is that another language?"

"Yeppy! It's Spanish or something. Means 'not going'. Same thing, mostly!"

"So you know Spanish…" Rachel remembered something. "Hey, 'nova' means new, right?"

"Yeppy."

"And I bet this –" She gestured around them, at the sky above and water below. "– hasn't been done very much before. It's a new scientific project. At any rate, this is new to us, I assume."

Eist nodded. "So we can name it," Rachel concluded, grinning. "Juniper didn't tell us about this place – maybe it's because she didn't know about it herself. So she wouldn't have a name for it."

"Oh yeah," Eist realized. "I think the name 'nova' would work. It's new, plus we're not leaving."

"Great minds think alike," Rachel said, laughing.

They ducked back underwater.

* * *

><p>Rachel was awoken the next morning by a scream. She got up so fast she slammed her head against the upper bunk.<p>

"Owww…" she groaned, clutching her head.

"Oh… my… god…" the person in the bunk over her panted.

"What happened?" Lucas asked, his eyes still closed.

"The… the… My sheets were on fire!" Andrea stuttered.

"Were?" Rachel asked groggily. _That hurt…_

"It's out now." Andrea exhaled. "That was _scary…_"

"You're a fire type, right?" Lucas asked, still pretending to be asleep.

"Yeah."

"Which fire type?" Rachel asked, starting to catch on.

"Wha – Charmander."

"Your butt was on fire," Lucas concluded bluntly.

Andrea groaned. Rachel felt the bed shake, like Andrea had flopped backwards onto it. "Great…" she grumbled.

"We're heading for Striaton City today, right?" Rachel confirmed, finally getting over the throbbing in her head.

"Yeah." A foot swung over the edge of the bunk. "I think the Pokemon Center provides breakfast."

"Cool. Do Sinnoan Centers do that?" Rachel wondered, picking her necklace up off the ground.

"No," Lucas answered. He continued the "still sleeping" charade even though he was clearly awake.

_Eist, I think Ether needs a wake-up call, _Rachel thought mischievously, fastening her scalchop necklace around her neck. Eist giggled and sent a minute stream of water at Lucas's face.

"GWAH!" Lucas spluttered and sat straight upright. He glared at Rachel, who smiled brightly.

"Eist and I decided Ether needed to wake up," Rachel explained ebulliently.

Lucas let out an irritated breath and got up suddenly. He abruptly picked up his bag and headed out of the room, letting the door slam shut behind him. Rachel glanced over at Andrea, who had paused halfway down the ladder. "Bad idea?" Rachel wondered.

"Looks like it," Andrea confirmed.

* * *

><p>They had been on the road for three hours, and <em>still<em> Lucas was ignoring them. The instant they started walking, he'd spaced himself ten meters in front of Rachel and Andrea. He walked faster whenever they gained on him, so they'd given up trying several hours ago. Rachel was passing the time by absentmindedly studying the miniature Pokedex on her Xtranceiver, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

As far as Rachel could tell, she'd really gotten on his nerves when she splashed him. The night before, though, when Eist had drenched him out of nowhere, Lucas hadn't seemed angry. He'd even laughed a few seconds later. But now, after she squirted him again…

"Are you okay?" Andrea asked her. Rachel bit her lip.

"Mm… yeah…"

"What's up?" Fortunately, Andrea and Rachel were about the same height, so that phrase wasn't misinterpreted.

"Did…" Rachel tried to figure out how to say it. "Did I do that?" She gestured at the boy avoiding their presence.

Andrea hesitated. "Yes… and no."

"What?"  
>"There <em>is <em>only so much a person can take, even if they're as emotionless as he regularly is," Andrea said, grinning slightly. "So this morning was the last straw. But the thing is, if someone cracks after a buildup of stress, there obviously has to be something to build up _from_. A buildup's not from just one thing."

"How do you know for sure it was a buildup and not just that one thing?" Rachel pointed out.

Andrea grinned. "You may have known him for half a year, but I've known him since seventh grade. He's not the sort of person who reacts so strongly that easily."

Rachel remembered when the Team Justice grunt had (for want of a more accurate word) facepalmed Lucas, and the latter didn't retaliate at all. "Yeah, I guess I can see that. But what else happened, then?"

"I don't know, myself. It's possible he just had a bad dream and was recovering from it still," Andrea suggested.

"Oh." Even with knowing it wasn't entirely her fault Lucas was avoiding them, she still didn't feel any better. Causing someone's mood to drop like that gave her an unsettling feeling.

Andrea noticed that her friend's expression hadn't improved. "You _could_ just say sorry," she mentioned.

Rachel snorted in response. "Yeah, how? Lucas!" she yelled.

No answer.

Demonstrating further, she jogged lightly to try and get closer to Lucas. His pace almost immediately increased, setting the distance between them even farther than it had been before.

Rachel stopped running. "See?" she said hopelessly.

Andrea sighed. "Yeah…"

They kept walking, although Rachel still wasn't content. Her mind drew back to the conversation she and Lucas had had the previous night. Even though she really hadn't known him for very long, he was so easy to talk to that it didn't really matter. He'd made her feel better about having Eist locked inside her. And they'd been able to talk to each other like friends… Which, seeing as Rachel was stuck with him for weeks or possibly even months, was possibly the best thing to be.

_What would I do in this situation with my friends back home…_

Suddenly she knew. Rachel crept over to the side of the dirt path, where the grass would muffle her footsteps. Grabbing the straps of her backpack so it wouldn't clunk against her back, she started jogging silently. The brass shell below her throat bounced against her skin as she ran. Her pace grew steadily until she was practically sprinting toward him.

Lucas didn't notice her approaching until she was almost there. Sensing something behind him, he turned his head. For a brief moment Rachel saw a somewhat moody expression directed at her, then Lucas jerked his head away and started running. Rachel looked behind her just long enough to confirm that Andrea was following at a decent rate, before picking up her pace and starting to sprint.

It was like when Rachel had raced Lucas to the laboratory back in Nuvema, but the situation couldn't have been more different. And even with a sense of determination spurring her on, Rachel found herself slowly but steadily losing ground. If Lucas had given up anywhere between two seconds and two minutes after starting to run, she could easily have kept up with him. However, after the first two minutes he was still going. And kept going after that. What Rachel could see of his expression hadn't changed one bit. His annoyance was fueling him just as willpower was fueling her. They'd have been evenly matched if Rachel had been more of a long-distance runner.

But she wasn't.

She was filled with a numb horror as he climbed farther ahead of her. "Wait," she panted, trying to run faster.

_If I don't tell him I'm sorry for what I did, this won't end…_

_Need help?_ Eist spoke up.

_Eist, I need to be faster, but I can't… _Rachel thought frantically.

_Try… It's like watergun, but from your feet_, Eist told her.

While still running, Rachel drew water energy down through her legs. They momentarily grew heavier, but then she started to release it. Spurts of water shot from the undersides of her shoes, almost causing her to trip at first. As she got the hang of it, though, she found it made her strides longer and more efficient.

_I'll show you the full move when you're actually trying to learn _it, Eist let her know. _Right now, this is just the basis of aqua jet_.

With the water energy helping her, Rachel was able to pass Lucas and block his path. Startled, he came to a stop.

"Lucas – I'm sorry, okay?" Rachel gasped.

A crease between his eyebrows – which Rachel hadn't noticed before – suddenly went away. Besides that, Lucas seemed to be less upset now. He nodded to acknowledge what she'd said.

Andrea caught up, and the three kept walking quietly, as they'd been doing several minutes ago. The main difference was that Lucas wasn't trying to avoid them anymore. Yet he still didn't seem particularly happy.

_It's the buildup_, Rachel realized. _The last thing bothering him is gone, but all the other things on his mind are still there._ On the bright side, he wasn't giving them the cold shoulder.

_Thanks. You'll definitely have to teach me the full aqua jet_, Rachel told Eist.

_Anytime! Uh, actually, maybe not in full view of Striaton City…_

Rachel looked up. Whether it was just because they'd been walking for a while or because of their six-minute sprint, they'd reached the point where the dirt path suddenly became paved with stone. Towering apartment buildings lined the street that (hopefully) lead to the middle of Striaton City. The city was much larger than Accumula Town, or at least more crowded.

Rachel glanced at the watch on his Xtranceiver. "It's noon. Wanna get something to eat?"

"The map kept talking about some really great restaurant around here," Andrea mentioned, pulling the said map from her bag. She scanned it and pointed out a note on the side. "Here. 'Besides the western gardens and the Trainer School, Striaton City is well known for the Morning Star Café near the center of the eastern part of the city. It is located right next to the Pokemon Center, and has been given particularly high ratings by even the most selective critics.' What do you guys think?"

"How expensive is it?" Rachel wanted to know.

Andrea frowned. "It doesn't say. We can go check it out."

Rachel looked at Lucas, who still hadn't spoken. "Sound okay?" she asked. He kept his eyes trained on the ground, but he nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>So, after almost two months of waiting, you get rewarded for your patience with my least favorite chapter. (hangs head in shame) If I'm lucky, you thought it was worth it, and if I'm unlucky... try not to be too mean? I was attempting to make a billion things happen, and I think they got done for the most part, although I actually saved the interesting part of one development for next chapter.<strong>

**This chapter's song is Foundry! It's by John Mackey, who is freakishly amazing. Google him or something. Foundry wasn't actually a song my band got to play D: However, Andrea played it in the district honor band, and me and Lucas and a bunch of other people watched their concert. Grace's grandma hated the song because it was so loud XD**

**Thank you to everyone who pointed out that "no vas" means "not going." Believe it or not, it helped the story itself get further developed in my mind.**

**There was some sneakiness in there that I'm not sure you noticed... Just letting you know, so feel free to point out any technical errors, but keep in mind one isn't actually an error.**

**The Morning Star Café was named after Striaton City's Korean name. I can't understand why they never bothered to actually name it themselves, but then it was always referred to as the Striaton City Gym. Yep, that's what it was talking about! _Is_ talking about, seeing as the characters are headed there...**

**Anticlimactic ending, much?**

**Well, hope you liked it... a little? Review and stuff, and see you when I get over my next bout of writer's block XP**


	6. Not Really There

**Heya! Yes, I FINALLY got chapter six out. I started writing it half a week after I published my other story's most recent chapter, scrapped almost the entire chapter a week or two ago, and now it's done. Marching band took up a lot of time and energy I could have used to write this… having said that, yes, I'm in marching band, which is like, the ultimate level of band geekiness… Except for drum major and stuff, maybe. And being in marching band means that for almost every Saturday for a while, I get to steal Lucas's hat. Yup.**

**Moving on:**

* * *

><p>The Morning Star Café had clearly been built with penniless trainers in mind. Everything was highly affordable, yet well-made at the same time – at least, judging by the plates of other customers and the menu above the front counter. Andrea went up front to order.<p>

"You guys find a table," she told Rachel and Lucas.

Most of the spots across the floor and along a counter were occupied, but a single row of small square tables was empty. Customers seemed to be avoiding them, although Rachel couldn't understand why. The tables were clean and looked fine. The only difference was that those tables were square and all the others were round. She and Lucas chose one with two chairs and dragged a third over for Andrea. After that…

Does the phrase, "awkward silence" ring a bell?

Rachel attempted to block out the silence by playing a song in her head. Eventually, though, she admitted to herself that as fast-paced and intense as Critical Mass was, it still wasn't working. "So," she said, trying to start a conversation. "Um… How've you been?"

_Stupid_, she thought a moment later, _you've been with him this whole time._

"Fine," he said shortly.

"Striaton City's pretty cool so far."

He didn't respond. He kept looking at the ground.

"I wonder how far away the next town is?"

The carpet must have been really interesting; it had Lucas's full attention.

Rachel sighed. "What's bugging you?"

"Nothing," he said a little too quickly.

"No, really. Something's bugging you. Even I can tell."

"Nothing."

_He's homesick_, Eist piped up.

Rachel blinked. "Uh, Eist, how do you know that?" she said out loud.

_Ether told me. Wait…_ Ether must have been telling Eist more – for one thing, Eist seemed to be listening to something, and for another thing, Lucas's expression was starting to broadcast mild anger.

_So Ether says Lucas misses home and his friends, like, even Jonathan stealing his food every day_, Eist began. _He wants to go back to band, but kind of doesn't want to go to school. Guess he doesn't like it. He just wants to see his friends again, and–_

Suddenly Lucas jolted upright. "Ether, say that and _die_," he warned in a low voice.

…_and he especially wants to see someone named Ally again_, Eist said slowly. _Who's Ally?_

Lucas closed his eyes. "Ether, I really hate you," he muttered.

"Flute player," Rachel let Eist know, not caring that Lucas could hear. "Don't worry about it. Jonathan and I have known for a while."

_So that was the buildup. Homesickness and lovesickness._

Lucas groaned. "My ralts _friend_ hates me," he said, putting emphasis on "friend".

"Sounds like it's a mutual feeling, though," Rachel reminded him. He shrugged. "You really miss her, huh?" she wondered, changing the subject.

Lucas opened his eyes and stared at the carpet again. "Yeah," he mumbled.

Rachel hesitated to say what had just popped into her mind. It was a question. A question that, she guessed, could be the least bit awkward to ask someone. She did anyways. "What's it like… Liking someone?"

The spot between Lucas's eyebrows creased. He shrugged.

"No, really," Rachel said, "I want to know so that when it happens to me, I'll recognize it."

He didn't look away from the ground as he said, "I dunno… it just kinda happens. You really look forward to seeing that person whenever they're not around, and then when they're there you laugh at everything stupid they say and like being near them. But it's really hard to talk to them if you like them."

Rachel digested this information. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind," she said cheerily.

A man approached their table. He was dressed in a formal waiter's outfit, complete with a blue bowtie and a towel draped over his arm. The man was tall and lean, and had bright blue eyes. Tendrils of long blue hair framed his face, which was directed their way. "Are either of you ready for your battle?" he inquired.

"…What?" Rachel wondered.

"Your battle. My brothers are busy at the moment, but I'd be glad to compete against one of you now," he explained.

"What… Oh, is this one of those restaurants that battle for the food?" Rachel asked. There was one like that in Sinnoh, somewhere near Pastoria City.

The man looked surprised. "This is the Striaton City Gym. Challengers battle for the Trio Badge. You are sitting at a square challenger's table, right?"

_Gym_. The word reverberated in Rachel's mind. _A gym in a café?_

She was about to say, "Sorry, we weren't planning to battle. We just wanted lunch and didn't know about the tables." But someone beat her to the response.

"Sure."

Rachel glanced at Lucas, alarmed. "I'll go first," he said. He was looking at the man.

The man smiled. "Great. My name is Cress, and I'm one of Striaton City's gym leaders. Come with me – and you're welcome to watch, if you'd like," he let Rachel know.

Lucas immediately got up and followed Cress toward a pair of kitchen doors. Rachel hurried to catch up. "What's going on? You said you didn't want to waste time on the badge run. Plus, are you crazy? You're gonna get hurt to some degree," she reminded him.

He turned toward her as they passed through the doors, and a shiver ran down Rachel's back – his normally light brown eyes had turned scarlet, and held an alert gleam that definitely wasn't his. "When did I ever say that?" he said, and Rachel realized the voice wasn't his either. "That wasn't me. Lucas, maybe. But not me."

"Ether," Rachel understood.

A grin spread across his face. "Yeah. Hey, I've wanted to battle someone for ages."

"I'm going to tell Cress that you're not here for a battle," Rachel said slowly.

"Do that and I'll magical leaf you til you can't stand," he warned in a light tone. Ether or Lucas or whoever he was turned around and walked faster.

An increasing sense of apprehension growing in her stomach, Rachel followed, deciding that it was a good thing she'd chosen to accompany them.

They followed Cress through a narrow hallway. Its walls were decorated with awards – "Café of the year," "Most popular café of 2010", and "Top voted soup of 2011" were among them. At the other end of the corridor, a simple wooden door lay in wait.

Cress turned the handle. "Usually, the challenger reaches a gym battlefield on their own," he let them know, "but this gym is different. There's no puzzle here." He pushed the door open, leading to a brightly lit room. A standard league battlefield had been painted on a plain concrete floor, which was just larger than a basketball court. On the sides were elevated bleachers for people to sit and watch at.

"Stairs are over there," Cress let Rachel know, gesturing to their left. "I suppose I haven't asked you your names yet."

"I'm Lucas," Ether informed him.

_Liar_, Rachel thought.

"And you?"

"Rachel," she replied.

"How nice to meet you. I hope this will be an exciting battle."

Cress turned and strode to the other side of the room. Rachel took this as her cue to head up the stairway, but not before she noticed the look of excitement on Ether's face.

_This is seriously scaring me_, she told Eist.

_Don't worry; I wouldn't do that to you_, Eist promised.

_I trust you. I just don't trust Ether._

"This will be a one-on-one battle between the myself and the challenger. There are no substitutions. If the challenger is the victor, they will receive P1680 prize money and a badge. However, if I am the victor, the challenger gives me half the money he or she has on hand," Cress announced. Rachel found a seat in the front row. The chairs were pretty nice; sort of movie-theater style, with seats that flipped down when you needed to use them. "Protocol says I send my pokemon out first, but you get the first move," Cress informed his opponent, holding up a pokeball. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Ether's voice responded.

"Panpour, come join us," Cress called, throwing out his pokemon. Rachel recognized the creature from her brief flipping through the Xtranceiver's Pokedex. She went back and checked the description.

_A water type… And Ether only knows magical leaf. Of course it's now, when Lucas is possessed by a bloodthirsty idiot ralts, that we get a Deus ex Machina._

Ether unzipped Lucas's jacket zipper and pulled his arms out of the sleeves. He dropped the jacket on the sidelines behind him and let his hat follow. The straps of Lucas's backpack were still looped around his jacket.

Cress watched curiously as Ether stepped out onto the battlefield. "Would you be a fighting-type enthusiast? Some choose to fight in the place of pokemon."

Ether let a smirk fall across Lucas's face. "Not exactly. I get the first move, right?"

As Cress opened his mouth to respond, a swarm of multicolored leaves flipped out of thin air and rushed at the unprepared panpour. The water monkey squealed and clutched his face, which started to drip little spots of red fluid.

"What on earth… Panpour, use watergun!" Cress yelled, surprised.

An onslaught of magical leaves hit the incoming water attack, saturating the leaves enough to make them fall to the ground, but also cutting the stream of water into beads. Ether didn't even have to duck.

"Go with fury swipes!" Cress called out.

Letting out a yowl, Panpour rushed straight through the next bombardment of leaves and flashed his claws. _Claws?_ Rachel thought, _He didn't have claws a minute ago._ At any rate, yes, the panpour now had claws, which were long and sharp and very lethal-looking. Panpour slashed at Ether with both hands, leaving long scratches down the latter's arms. The scrapes looked red, but if they were bleeding, there wasn't enough blood to tell. Rachel swore she saw something flicker a second later, although she didn't know exactly what.

"Panpour! Use what we've been working on!" Cress exclaimed.

Panpour's claws shrank back into his hands and he immediately chomped down on Ether's lower arm. Water squirted between his teeth, with traces of something darker mixed in.

Ether yelled, "Ow!" and Rachel saw the flicker again.

_That's not even his own blood_, she thought in disgust.

_It's half his_, Eist corrected her. _Remember? That's not just Lucas anymore._

An idea popped into Rachel's mind. _So, if Ether is in control right now, what happened to Lucas?_

_What happens to Ether when Lucas is in control?_

Rachel frowned. _What do you mean?_

_Where is Ether?_

_When Lucas is in control? Ether's inside him somewhere._

_There you go_, Eist chirped happily. _Lucas is still in there._

Cress, meanwhile, seemed confused. "That did way more damage than it should have done to a grass type," he admitted. "Waterfang is part water, naturally. But then, it's also part dark type," he added, a grin slowly spreading across his face, "and magical leaf requires some psychic energy to use."

Panpour let go of Ether's arm. Clutching the fang wound, Ether shot Cress a spiteful look. "I thought Gym Leaders weren't supposed to let their guard down," he drawled in a bored tone, although the tear in his arm clearly hurt like heck. As he spoke, a fourth round of magical leaf barreled into Panpour, who was only a few feet away.

"Waterfang," Cress instructed. Ether darted away from the water-type's jaws, launching a small hurricane of leaves while still holding his arm. "Watergun!" The foliage collided with the jet of water, cancelling the attack. "Scald, then!" Cress changed tactics.

The psychopathic ralts shot another magical leaf at Panpour, and another stream of water countered it. This time, though, the leaves fell away, soaked and steaming like boiled spinach, and the water continued towards Ether.

"YEOW!" Ether yelled in a funny voice, yanking his body away from the water. It had caught him full in the chest, and judging from the fact that his drenched shirt was now steaming, the water had been burning hot.

_Well, scalding hot_, Rachel figured. The flickers she'd seen before returned, and this time there were several of them.

Cress made one of those overrated dramatic poses. "Panpour! Use waterfang and don't let go! See if you can finish this!"

Even with Ether's efforts to stop Panpour's charge with magical leaf, the water monkey still reached him. Ether jerked his wounded lower arm, which Panpour had been aiming for, away from the pokemon's reach. However, Panpour grabbed the bottom of Ether's shirt with his hands. Another flicker somewhere around Ether's face, and the ralts flung his hand down at the monkey. This was sort of a good thing, because in doing so, he got his lower arm away from the spot the panpour then aimed for.

Having said that, he still failed to hit the panpour who had jumped up to bite.

Panpour latched his fangs to Ether's bicep, piercing his black t-shit as well as the skin underneath. When Ether shouted in pain, Rachel saw a flicker that was slower and longer than ones before, and it dawned on her that it was a flicker of color. She didn't know anything else about it. Most of her brain cells were busy trying to prevent herself from shaking too much.

_Eist_, she said, _if this Ether doesn't win or give up soon, he's going to maim Lucas._

For once, Eist was silent.

Ether was breathing in short gasps. The magical leaf that sprung out of the air wasn't nearly as confident as previous ones had been. It barely hurt Panpour, who was still hanging on to Ether's arm.

Cress frowned. "Persistent. Panpour, use fury swipes."

Feeling a bit fearful, Rachel gripped the arms of her seat. The panpour extended his claws again and started to swipe at Ether's side while still locked onto his arm. With every strike, every rip of black t-shirt fabric, every slash that made panpour's claws come out a little more red, the odd flicker of color repeated. Ether was struggling against the water-type, but his efforts were starting to grow slower. The magical leaf he tried to conjure barely looked like grass flying from a lawnmower.

Rachel had had enough. She shoved herself to her feet, letting the theater-style chair flip back up. "Ether!" she hollered, "Just forfeit or win! Otherwise you're just some selfish idiot who doesn't care that you're hurting Lucas when you hurt yourself. Forfeit or win! It doesn't matter! Just stop!"

Ether looked up, and a flicker happened. Suddenly she realized what the flickers were, all along: his eyes changing color. The flickers were shifts between the bloodred of Ether's irises and Lucas's dark amber.

Shifts between the two beings inside that one body.

The light brown, dark amber eyes didn't flicker back to red. Taking in a breath, the person who was now Lucas used his familiar unconventional fighting style: he punched the panpour in the stomach. Panpour released Lucas's arm while coughing, and couldn't get up in time to escape a full-power magical leaf. The direct hit knocked him back, and the water-type monkey's head hit the ground.

Cress sighed. "Panpour, we were close. Return." A red light drew the unconscious pokemon back into the gym leader's pokeball.

To Rachel, it felt like some invisible barrier between the field and herself had been lifted, and she jumped down the stairs as fast as her feet would take her. She started to run out onto the field, but halted. Rachel backtracked just far enough to pick up Lucas's hat, bag, and jacket from the side of the battlefield. She swung the backpack's straps over her own shoulder, then continued toward her friend.

Cress had gone over to him after the battle. He appeared to be examining the damage to Lucas's arms. One arm stayed loosely at his side, with nothing more than a set of long scratches. Contrariwise, Lucas's right arm was bleeding freely from deep bites on both the upper and lower parts. Underneath his right arm, his shirt was torn up and soaked with dark liquid. It was his right arm that Cress was studying.

"Hm. Usually a fighting enthusiast will prefer to train longer before challenging a gym," Cress let him know, "By then they'll have learned tricks for preventing open wounds. The magical leaf was odd though, how did you manage that?"

Rachel looked to Lucas, who wasn't saying a word. His face was tinged a slight bluish gray, and his breaths came quick and shallow. His eyes were distant and tired, like he was about to fall asleep standing up.

"Cress," she intervened, "He needs medical help."

Cress appeared surprised. "A trained fighter often is built to withstand–"

"He's not a trained fighter. I'll explain in a bit, but we really need to get him somewhere fast," Rachel said seriously.

* * *

><p>He collapsed just before getting to the medical unit of the Striaton Gym. Nothing dramatic; he just dropped. Cress caught him and shot Rachel an anxious look.<p>

"I thought he _wanted_ to fight," Cress said in alarm.

Rachel considered saying, "It wasn't him; it was his inner demented ralts that challenged you," but she figured now wasn't the time.

Cress carried Lucas through a wooden doorway. "Stay out here," he said to Rachel, letting the door close behind him.

She stood there, awkwardly, until she decided that standing there awkwardly wouldn't actually help the situation. Running her thumb over the soft inside of Lucas's jacket, she tried to think of what else to do.

_I'm hungry… guess we never actually ate lunch, huh?..._

_Oh yeah, Andrea's still there…_

Rachel bolted down the corridor Cress had led her and Lucas down, and headed back out the way they'd come. Bursting through the outer kitchen doors, she made her way straight to the table Andrea was at. It was a round one, unlike the table Rachel and Lucas had unfortunately chosen.

"Andrea," Rachel panted, going straight over to the table.

Andrea turned her head and spotted her. Standing up, she said, "Where did you go? I thought you guys would still be here, at the bathroom or something…" There was worry etched into her words.

Rachel looked for a good place to start at. "This café is a gym," she began, "and Lucas and I got a table meant for gym challengers. A gym leader – his name's Cress – came and asked us if we were ready to battle, and then Ether possessed Lucas or something and said yes, he wanted to battle…"

Andrea obtained an alarmed frown. "How did it go?" She seemed to realize that someone was missing. "Where's Lucas?"

"Medical area…"

Andrea snatched up a plastic bag from the table. "I got this to go," she explained briefly, walking briskly towards the kitchen doors. She then stopped and looked back toward Rachel. "Maybe you should go first."

The duo strode quickly back through the kitchen, hall of awards, battlefield, and another hallway to reach the door Cress had gone into.

And there they waited. They sat against the wall on the ground and pulled out their paper-wrapped sandwiches and ate them, but the time didn't pass any faster. Rachel described the battle in detail to Andrea.

"Wow. I really missed out," Andrea commented, laughing a little.

Rachel smiled, but shuddered at the thought of the blood. _You didn't miss out at all…_

Rachel was starting to nod off against the plaster wall when the door opened. Suddenly alert, she quickly got to her feet. Andrea did the same.

Cress was there. Rachel introduced Andrea, and he nodded. "You can come in now," he let them know, sounding a little tired.

They followed him in. The small, bedroom-sized chamber was neither dark nor light; the lights on the ceiling weren't on, but sunlight from outside came through the closed blinds on the far end of the room. Medical supplies decked one wall, in varying appearances of age. There was a crisp, clean bed near them, and another bed farther away with someone sleeping in it.

"If I'd known, I'd have stopped the battle sooner," Cress said sadly, looking over the peaceful form in the corner. Lucas's entire right arm and part of his left arm were completely wrapped in bandages, and he was wearing a different, gray shirt – Rachel remembered that the one he'd been wearing had been partially shredded by fury swipes. "I honestly thought he was a fighting specialist…" He broke off abruptly and pulled out a pair of rolling chairs. Gesturing for Andrea and Rachel to sit there, he plopped himself onto the edge of the smooth white bedcovers of the unoccupied mattress. "All right. Something's up with this whole deal. What is it?"

They told him. They told him about Sinnoh, Nuvema, and the laboratory. The experiment and the aftermath. Their decision to travel up to the Pokemon League and get approval to head back home…. And their choice to not battle for gym badges.

Cress took the near insult to Professor Juniper in a surprising way. "She always did seem a bit off to me," he mentioned. "Like she'd do anything for science." Thinking further, he slowly said, "You can't actually get into the Pokemon League without havng all eight badges. The badge check gates make sure of that." Rachel and Andrea must have appeared upset, because Cress was quick to support the statement. "Even if the badge possession wasn't necessary, I'd actually recommend the journey to you. I mean, how often do you get the chance to travel around a region? Going for the badges gives you a goal to reach, and how you manage to reach the goal is how you grow in the end."

"Isn't it really out of the way though? The fastest route around Unova… See," Andrea said, pulling out her map, "Head west from here until this big city on the coast, then north to the city here. Then east all the way around the region, past a lot of coastal areas, and up to the league. Half of the gym route is on the other side of the region from this route. Gym cities are marked."

"You don't want to go that way," Cress said, smiling slightly. "The eastern end is where people go when they get bored of winning by a long shot. All the super powerful battlers are there, and they almost literally pounce on any trainer who comes by. The gym cities actually go in order from easiest to hardest as you go around this way," he said, tracing the western half of the map.

"They're all on our way…" Andrea mused.

"And you can't get into the Pokemon League without them," Cress added.

Andrea looked to Rachel. "Doesn't sound too bad, anyways," she said.

"That means yes?" Rachel confirmed.

"We don't have a choice." Rachel whirled around, surprised. "No one can reach the champion without badges. So we have to get the badges," Lucas said quietly. He seemed barely awake.

"Glad to see you up," Cress said brightly. "I wanted to hand this to you face to face." Standing up, the gym leader reached into his apron pocket and drew out an envelope and a small, shiny object. "This is your prize money. Use it well. And this is the Trio Badge, from the Striaton City Gym. You earned it." The badge was the color of polished brass, with three diamonds lined up with each other in the middle – one red, one green, and one blue. It was oblong, unlike the roundish ones of Sinnoh. "And, ah, I'm really sorry about that," Cress said sheepishly, handing the two items to Lucas.

"It was Ether's fault," Lucas stated bluntly.

"All right then. It was a really good battle, though," Cress admitted.

"Hey Cress! Where are you, there's two challengers and Cilan's already occupied…" A waiter with flaming red hair waltzed into the room. Besides his crimson colored hair and eyes and his impatient demeanor, the man looked exactly like Cress.

"Medical problems, Chili. All taken care of," Cress replied.

"You guys battled yet?" Chili asked the teens briskly.

"He did. Not us," Andrea said.

"I saw you upstairs. You were here before the other kids challenging us, so you get priority," Chili said at lightning speed.

Rachel and Andrea stood there, stunned, for a few moments. Lucas spoke first, oddly enough. "If I already have a badge, you guys probably don't need to," he said.

Rachel grinned and turned back toward him. "Your logic is off. _Because_ you have the badge, now we have to get it too, to match your level."

"See you in a bit?" Andrea said, heading out. Chili zipped in the direction of the battlefields.

"I should heal Panpour for the next battle," Cress remarked, walking out. "Get some rest until I come back," he said to Lucas.

Then it was just Lucas and Rachel. "I should go…" she said, sort-of-smiling from the terrible awkwardness that was her voice. Lucas nodded, and she turned and went out the door. Just as she had the door almost closed, he said something.

"Good luck."

Rachel opened the door a crack wider. His expression was sincere. "Thanks," she said, smiling.

She shut the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Just a heads-up: I changed Rachel's last name for undisclosed reasons. It's Myers now. Rachel Myers.<strong>

**So I _wanted_ to get this out in time for it to be dedicated for someone's birthday… Yeah, that didn't work. But happy (belated) birthday to Lucas, anyways.**

**Speaking of Lucas, I am having issues with him like you would not believe… Long story short, when I was writing the part where Ether starts to possess Lucas, I realized that Ether could represent the side of Lucas I really hate. The character Lucas Zhang is based on how Lucas used to be, and I hope still is.**

**Critical Mass by Todd Stalter. Yes. Awesome song. I'm pretty sure it's on YouTube, so check it out.**

**Til next time.**

**~A. Eon.**


	7. Vengeance

**Happy Thanksgiving! Whether or not you live in the U.S. of A. I'm thankful for all of you, for your feedback and support, and even the fact that you read this story. Having said that, here's Novas chapter 7… In the Nova month! November :D**

* * *

><p>Rachel blocked a jet of hot water with her forearms, grimacing as the already-burnt skin steamed from the attack. Shaking the heat from her mind, she shot another watergun at the panpour. He fluidly dodged it.<p>

Andrea was off somewhere, battling Chili. Cilan, the third brother, was still healing his pokemon. Cress, meanwhile, had set Panpour's pokeball on a heal machine while he'd been tending to Lucas. The matchups (water-on-water, fire-on-fire) were so that Andrea wouldn't be facing a type weakness. "And besides," Rachel had added, "I've already watched Cress battle before."

It wasn't doing her much good, though. Her arms were sore and red from the constant stream of scalds Cress had sent her way. A spot just below her knee stung from a fury swipes cut; she hoped it was shallow, and her jeans had somewhat taken the attack.

Her attacks on the panpour seemed to have very little effect. Eist had shown her the full aquajet during the match. She used it now, drawing water down to her feet and letting it burst out the soles of her shoes. The water drove her forward as she sprinted at Panpour. Just before reaching him, she brought up a little water energy to her shoulder. The attack was too fast for the panpour to avoid, so Rachel rammed her shoulder and the water over it into him.

As before, it hit, but she wound up on the ground. The little water type was far closer to the ground than Rachel's shoulder, so she kept falling down. This had become a problem because subsequently she would turn into a sitting duck…

"Scald again."

Rachel rolled onto her back and blocked the scorching hot water with her arms again. When it stopped, she took a quick examination of her forearms: they were bright red and starting to blister.

"I know you can do this," Cress said suddenly. "You friend had no experience in battle, and he did it."

"My friend," Rachel informed him, scrambling to her feet, "has older siblings to practice with."

"You have a good chance of winning this," Cress said firmly. "You just have to realize how to do it. I can see a way."

Rachel blinked. _There's a solution that obvious?_ she wondered.

"Panpour, waterfang."

An image of a crescent dripping scarlet blood flashed through Rachel's mind, coupled with a shock of fear. Eist was able to put it into words particularly well.

_AAAAAAAHNOOOOOGETAWAYGETAWAY GETAWAY…_

In a panic, Rachel drew water into her hand for a watergun. Panpour pounced, teeth glinting dark blue, and Rachel moved her fist to shove him away.

A thud connected her closed hand to the panpour's chin. His jaws clicked shut and he was knocked back several feet.

The force of the blow surprised Rachel. _Eist, what was that?_

_Pokemon are stronger than humans_, Eist reminded her, _so you're stronger now. And anyways, you're also bigger than him. Add that the to fact that elemental energy boost strength._

_Elemental energy?_ Rachel then looked down and opened her hand. It was dripping water.

"Waterfang, again," Cress instructed.

As the blue monkey closed in, Rachel pulled water energy into her palm. Closing her fist, she thrust her hand forward.

The water energy burst over her hand, covering her fist with a clear, fluid case. She rammed it into the panpour's stomach; his head snapped forward and fangs scraped the backside of her hand, but the punch sent him reeling backwards.

"Waterpunch," Cress remarked happily. "However, we're not giving up! Panpour, fury swipes!"

Rachel flung a jet of water at him, which the pokemon easily dispersed with a few fast flicks of his claws. Again, Rachel conjured a waterpunch to drive him away, but she realized too late that putting her hand right in front of Panpour's fury swipes was a bad idea.

Hot pain shot through her wrist, making her quickly draw back. The panpour had landed on the ground beside her after jumping to reach her arms; she took a bit of spare water energy into her foot and kicked him.

_Way__ bigger than him_, she commented with a shudder, watching the monkey skid ten feet across the concrete floor.

_Yerp_, Eist briefly responded.

"Fury swipes!"

Panpour grunted and pushed himself to his feet – clearly he was losing steam. Once more Rachel powered up for a waterpunch…

"Avoid it! Go around, and don't hold back!"

As though the wind itself had spurred his short legs on, Panpour was suddenly behind her. Rachel felt the top of her calf sting once, twice. "_Ow!_" Rachel and Eist shouted simultaneously, one out loud and one mentally. On reflex, Rachel kicked her leg backwards, and was met by a squeal.

Rachel limped in a circle – already her leg felt wet, so the fury swipes must have been fairly deep. "Panpour, can you go on?" Cress checked. The monkey stood again, chirping a confirmation. "Let's take it long distance from here. Scald!"

In an attempt to dodge, Rachel jumped onto her bad leg. It seared with pain and she nearly collapsed, barely catching herself with her other leg in time. This did not get her out of harm's way.

Rachel swore loudly, wiping hot water off her face. "Uh, sorry," she said with embarrassment, remembering who she was in the presence of.

Cress grinned. "It's no problem. Scald again, though."

With the option of evading the attack no longer a choice due to her weak leg, Rachel blocked it with her arms again. Her arms stung and burned where they already had been soaked before. She aimed a watergun at Panpour's follow-up scald, but the more-practiced scald broke through and she resorted to covering her face once again. Her eyes watered from the repetitive damage to her arms – a quick inspection told her that the burns had started bleeding.

_D*mn it_, she thought, _I choose to fight for a badge so I can match Lucas and Andrea and instead I get burnt arms and a dysfunctional leg. Fantastic._

"Okay, go in with a waterfang," Cress commanded at last.

_No way in h*ll. Not after everything you've done already._

As Panpour drew near, Rachel felt something come over her. A reddish-brown glow, the color of dust and blood, surrounded her body. She felt rough, restless energy fill her chest where normally water took its place. It seemed too hostile to send out in a little stream like water energy.

So she released it. Rachel let the energy burst from every part of her like sparks from a firecracker. It exploded in a solid ripple that collided with Panpour right as he got close to Rachel. As through he'd just been hit with something heavy, he grunted like the wind had left him and fell back. Rachel was surprised to see his eyes were closed.

"Well done," Cress said, withdrawing his unconscious pokemon for the second time that afternoon. "I'll give you the badge and stuff in a bit, but I'd say some treatment for those burns first would do you good."

* * *

><p>Cress helped her back to the medical wing, since her leg was in no better shape than her arms were. Well, maybe it was.<p>

"Is my leg dripping?" she said suddenly, attempting to look over both her and Cress's shoulders.

Cress glanced back. "I'll get Chili to clean that up," he said dismissively.

So her leg _wasn't_ better, then.

Cress found a small door in the wall that lead to a closet. Inside were several shelves with a variety of folded pieces of cloth inside. Carefully keeping Rachel upright, he selected one from a lower shelf.

"You know how I mentioned fighting enthusiasts?" Cress said. Rachel nodded. "They've become quite a bit more common lately, so it's become a rule for gyms to carry spare clothing for them, just in case." He let the folds drop so that he was holding an open pair of shorts. "Change into this so I can fix up your leg."

He lead her to a bathroom, where she supported herself against a wall to slowly get inside. Locking herself in a stall, she gingerly switched her jeans for the shorts._ Thank Arceus I don't wear skinny jeans_, she thought bitterly, sliding the fabric over her split calf. _It would just be worse._

Rachel gripped the sink's edge and hobbled out. Cress lent her his shoulder to lean on. "You can throw your jeans in here," he said, opening a door by the closet. A chute dropped down from it. Checking to make sure nothing was in her pockets, Rachel tossed her jeans in. Cress closed the door.

They staggered into the same ward as before. Lucas was still in the far bed, now asleep.

"I don't blame him," Cress chuckled. "He was attacked from both the outside and the inside at once. I'd be exhausted too."

The bag with Lucas's lunch was empty. At least he'd stayed awake long enough for that.

Cress pulled a few supplies off a shelf and turned back towards Rachel. "Have a seat. I'll get you fixed up."

"Cress?" Rachel said as the gym leader filled a tub with water at the sink.

"Sup." He set it in her lap and moved her forearms into it. The cool water soothed her scorched skin.

"What was that move I used?"

"The last one?"

"Yeah."

Cress filled another tub and started washing her leg with soap and a cloth. "That was revenge. Oshawott and its evolved forms are the only water types who can naturally learn that move."

"So that was fighting energy I felt?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"I'd guess so. Haven't ever felt fighting energy, myself, so it's hard to say," Cress joked.

"Makes sense that it's called revenge though," Rachel let him know, grinning. She winced as the soap stung her calf. "I was getting pretty ticked off."

Cress chuckled, patting the wound dry. "There's no surprise there. You were resilient."

"Hey, you mentioned I had this big advantage over Panpour? What did you mean by that?" Rachel wondered.

Cress seemed surprised. "I guessed you'd figured it out, since you won the battle. It was the fact that you can punch and kick and do things that a lot of pokemon can't do. In this case it was an advantage because Panpour is smaller and has short limbs."

"That's how he won, right?" Rachel nodded at the head poking out from the other bed's covers.

Cress paused and looked up from putting pressure on the cuts with a cloth. "You know, it is. Some would have said it was the type advantage that did it, but it's really not. I'm glad you noticed that."

"Why? Because I'm stuck being a trainer for a while?" Rachel asked. She sensed an unintended bitter tone in her words.

"It's a good experience. Whether or not you fancy the idea of being a pokemon trainer, you'll grow from it and learn who you are. I know it must seem like just another euphemism adults use for training pokemon – that's what it was to me when I first went on a journey – but you'll find it's true," Cress said patiently.

"I know. I just don't quite believe it yet," Rachel admitted.

Cress smiled and started to wrap her leg. "You'll believe it in time. Any idea what pokemon you'll put on your team?"

This caught her off guard. "I… no, I only learned I was going to be a trainer this afternoon."

Cress nodded and took her arms out of the water. "More species from out of the region have been coming in to Unova, whether brought by a trainer who released them or just traveled here on their own. You may recognize a few. I'd still recommend you grow acquainted with Unova's pokemon, though." He said as he dried her arms gently.

"Lucas got me to study the pokedex on the way here," Rachel mock groaned.

He laughed. "For good reason!"

"So, who's the next gym leader?" Rachel inquired.

"That would be Lenora. She's a normal type specialist in Nacrene City," Cress informed her.

"Fighting is good against normal, right?" Rachel asked to confirm.

"Hey, you're the one who said Lucas didn't win by type advantage," Cress pointed out.

"Yeah…" Rachel bit her lip.

"Anything wrong?" Cress asked, winding bandages around her forearms and right hand.

Rachel shrugged.

"So, yes?"

Rachel smiled and confided, "I don't think he's gonna have a great time with this. I mean, sure he did fine against you, but the probability of him knowing more than just magical leaf until he finds a dawn stone is slim to none."

Cress frowned. "Isn't he a ralts? Surely he'll learn confusion or psybeam or something similar."

"He's disabled," Rachel admitted. "We didn't tell you before. He can't learn psychic moves, and the only reason he knows magical leaf is because it involves minimal psychic energy."

Cress considered this for quite a while. Rachel was almost about to change the topic before he spoke.

"Tell you what." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Ever hear of… Well, you're new to this region. But near Driftveil City, somewhere across the region from where we are currently, there's a river. The path to the next city, Mistralton, involves a lot of bridges and twisty, wet paths plus a cave. But if you go down the river a ways," Cress told her, "you'll find a small opening in the rocks. Not much light gets in there, so you'll either want to learn flash, have a pokemon who knows flash, or just buy a flashlight."

"This cave is called Mistralton Cave. Inside, supposedly there's a resting pokemon named Cobalion. Now, deep inside the cave, you'll find a formation of rocks on the floor that looks a little like a map of Unova – a bunch of boulders in a circle, with a little trail of stones marking the first few towns. Nearby, there should be a cluster of stalagmites. The second largest stalagmite is fake – there's a little buttonlike object towards its base. Press this and part of Nimbasa City's rock will unlatch itself like a drawer. Inside are evolutionary stones – sun stones, water stones, you name it, it's probably there. Some are in greater quantity than others, but I think every kind is in there. Take a dawn stone from the drawer and close it tight, and then head out and give the dawn stone to your friend."

Rachel didn't know what to say. Cress seemed to notice it. "It's for the best," he said with a shrug. "The collection belongs to the Pokemon League. I'll inform everyone that there's someone who's going to get a dawn stone from me. It's no big deal as long as they have my word."

"Are you serious?" Rachel squeaked out.

"I am."

"Why?"

"My region's lead scientists have ruined him," Cress said, gesturing over at the sleeping boy. "If I can do something to fix him a little, I will."

"That's…" Once again she found herself without words. "Thank you."

"It's no problem." He finished wrapping her left arm and started to put the supplies away. "Just a heads-up, though: you are going to have to swim or surf there. The river is the only route there, and it's walled in by steep cliffs on either side. I'm telling you instead of Andrea or Lucas because you are a water type, and you can learn surf," he concluded.

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," she waved it off.

Cress smiled. "All right, you're all patched up. Lucas over there is still sleeping, and I'd advise you to do the same. You can't travel to the next town in this condition." He gestured to her bandaged arms (the leg was implied).

"Thanks so much," Rachel said again, standing. She gingerly shifted weight onto her right calf – it stung and she went back to standing on one leg.

"It's just my job." Cress saluted her and started to head out of the room. He suddenly stopped. "Aah, I forgot. Usually it's Cilan who gets flustered." Pulling something out of his apron pocket, he said, "Rachel, on behalf of the Striaton City Gym, I present to you the Trio Badge."

Her heart felt warm as she took the trio of glittering kites from him. "And prize money in here," he added, handing her an envelope.

"How many times should I thank you today?" Rachel laughed.

Cress just smiled and left the room.

Setting the money and badge in her bag (she'd left it in the room while she battled), Rachel hopped over to the side of the bed. Sliding out of her shoes, she pulled the covers off partway and clambered in, being careful not to jostle her leg or brush her arms the wrong way. Covering herself with the blanket, she glanced across the gap between hers and Lucas's beds. His face was calm.

_Guess Ether doesn't mess with him in his sleep_, Rachel deduced.

Satisfied, she fell asleep herself.

* * *

><p>"Wake up, or else you'll sleep through the night."<p>

Rachel groggily opened her eyes. The fluorescent ceiling lights had been turned on, and now burned her eyeballs. She was aware of a shadow right beside her.

"Come on, you're almost awake," Andrea encouraged.

Blinking away the excessive amount of light, Rachel mumbled, "What time is it?"

"Six. You can sleep again in three or four hours."

As her ability to see properly returned to her, Rachel noticed Lucas sitting up in the other bed. He didn't look any more awake than she felt.

"What are we getting up for?" Rachel asked.

"Well, we can't just spend the night here," Andrea replied. "We're just heading back to the pokemon center. We can buy dinner there."

_Dinner. We have enough money, right? Oh yeah, we got money from winning the gym battles. Speaking of which…_ "Andrea, how'd your battle go?"

"It went fine," she responded happily. "Bit of a cut here," she held up her arm, "but nothing too bad. The lack of a type disadvantage helped."

Rachel held back a smile, thinking of her and Cress's take on type advantages. "So you won."

"Of course."

"I'm gonna fall asleep once we're there," Lucas yawned, getting to his feet.

Rachel got out of the bed and stuck her feet into her sneakers. "You'll miss dinner," she mentioned.

He shrugged. Rachel grinned. "You really don't do well with waking up, do you?"

"Nope." He pulled his jacket on.

"Rachel, play a fast song in his ears," Andrea suggested jokingly.

Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh! Or Carmen, like where it starts out quiet and then explodes."

"Heading out so soon?" Cress found them as they were walking out the café's front door.

"Yeah. Thanks for everything," Andrea called to him.

"Our pleasure. Hope to see you again," Chili said.

Outside, the winter night air was chilly and stale, with no breeze to blow the cold away. Andrea shivered. "Let's go back fast."

The Pokemon Center was right next to the Morning Star Café, so their walk was short. Andrea went up to the counter to reserve a room. Lucas and Rachel stayed in the lounge area as Andrea got in a long line.

"Do you actually have Carmen on your iPod?" Lucas wondered.

Rachel pulled her iPod from her backpack. A few thumb movements later, a tiny piccolo trill came whistling from her device. "Nice," Lucas grinned.

He bounced unexpectedly on the sofa as a girl plopped down beside him. "Hey," she greeted them. "What's that?"

Rachel stared. "It's my iPod."

"I mean the song."

"Carmen."

The girl listened, then shook her head. "Carmen's more detailed and lengthy. This one keeps switching styles."

"It's an arrangement that lasts about eight minutes," Rachel told her.

"Cool." The girl shut her eyes to listen. Rachel studied her: she was big enough to probably be around her and Lucas's height if they stood up. She wore a light purple blouse and a white scarf around her neck. A lavender pleated skirt covered her thighs, and lavendar flip flops held her feet. Her face was sharp and pretty, with a splash of freckles dusting her cheeks. Dark brown, almost black hair hung in ponytails from her head, and sideways bangs covered part of her forehead. Her closed eyes lay under a pair of glasses with violet rims.

Andrea came back partway through Carmen Production. "There's no empty rooms," she informed them, concerned.

"What?!" Rachel blurted, shocked.

"They're all taken."

"You can stay at my place," the girl said suddenly, opening her eyes. Her irises were very light, barely lavender instead of white. "We've got room."

"Really?" Andrea's tone sounded like she didn't know whether to be excited or skeptical.

The girl nodded. "It's just my sister and me there, anyways. I'll lead you there if you want to come."

Andrea shot a look at Rachel and Lucas. Lucas's expression was blank, while Rachel shrugged. "There's nowhere to stay here."

"Okay! Come on!" The girl started heading for the door. With a shrug, Andrea followed her. Rachel and Lucas were right behind them.

"I'm Amanita," the girl introduced herself as they strolled through the somewhat dark streets. "I manage the PC boxes here."

"I'm Andrea. This is Rachel and Lucas," Andrea spoke for them.

Amanita nodded. "Sorry for the long walk; we live on the edge of town."

The streets grew narrower and dimmer as they hiked through Striaton City. A complex of townhouses came into view. The outsides were mostly bare, with sparse green lawns, but a few had flowers and one in particular had a patch of tall plants with small yellow flowers.

"These flowers have the same name as my sister," Amanita informed them, climbing the steps to the building's front door. "We'd plant amanitas too, but apparently I'm a poisonous mushroom."

Rachel had seen these flowers before. They grew in the marshy southern part of Twinleaf Town. Her dad had told her the flowers' name once, a while ago.

"Andrea, do you know what those flowers are called?" Rachel asked quietly.

Andrea responded, "Anise. Like the ones in Twinleaf."

Anise. That was probably it. Amanita and Anise.

Amanita unlatched the door and flung it open. "Sis, the Pokemon Center's full so I asked some trainers to spend the night."

"Amanita, you're supposed to tell me before bringing strangers home…" Amanita's sister came into view, and suddenly Rachel remembered the flowers' name.

"These plants have two names," her dad had said. "Sometimes they're called anise, like how the seeds are sometimes called aniseeds. You can also call it fennel."

"Oh." Fennel stopped in the doorway to another room. "Hello."

Amanita looked back and forth between her sister and the group of trainers. "What?" They were having almost a staring contest, except their faces looked too shocked for it to be that. "What's going on? Do you know them, Sis?"

Fennel smiled. "I do. They're friends of mine."

"Friends!" Rachel exclaimed, trying not to laugh. "Sure we're friends!"

"Come in and have a seat." Fennel walked back into the other room.

Hesitantly, they stepped in. Amanita pulled out a few chairs. "Wait here." She ran into the other room.

Rachel looked around. The room was warm and bright, with a colorful rug covering a wood floor and tall lamps in two corners. A sturdy wooden coffee table sat in the middle of the floor, with a few notebooks and a laptop on it. The chairs Amanita had brought out had tall, elegantly constructed backs made of a dark wood.

"Coincidence or no?" Lucas said finally.

"No," Rachel said, surprising herself. "Fennel looked surprised that we're here."

Andrea perched warily on a chair, as though it would explode. "Let's see what's going on," she decided. "If something's up and it's not worth it, we can leave, and if it's purely coincidence and nothing's wrong, we can stay."

Amanita reentered the room. "Sis wants to talk to you a bit."

Fennel came in, and Rachel and Lucas sat down on the other two chairs.

"Hey guys." Fennel grabbed a chair of her own. "Amanita, find a seat."

"I researched dreams several years ago, and took trips to the Dreamyard outside town from time to time because some dream energy was left there when it exploded."

"Dream energy?" Andrea wondered.

Fennel waved it off. "It used to be a laboratory dedicated to dream research, but the dream mist of the Musharna who lived there was corrupted by the selfish dreams of some workers. Oh, uh, dream mist is sort of solidified dream energy," Fennel explained. "Anyways, I went there one time with a notebook. The notebook was full of the very basic ideas of mine and Aurea's: how pokemon and humans can be combined."

"Sis, do they even know Aurea?" Amanita interrupted.

"They do – ah, you would know her as Professor Juniper. My mistake," Fennel corrected. "At any rate, I lost that notebook in the ruins that day. The ideas in it were basic enough for me to not go back and find it for quite a while, but now we've hit a roadblock in our study and I think the solution is in there somewhere."

"Thing is, though, I'm very busy. Amanita is working on improving the PCs right now, and I have other projects I'm working on. Neither of us has time to go hunting for it."

"Oh, no," Andrea groaned.

"Oh, yes." Fennel pretended to be deep in thought. "I suppose if someone could bring it back for us, we could spare a few sleeping bags, and maybe cook something for them tonight."

"Not worth it," Andrea declared, standing up. "Let's go, guys."

"On the other hand," Fennel continued as though nothing had happened. "If they disagreed, I have heard of ways to completely ruin that pokemon-human fusion experiment. I believe it's even possible for the pokemon to destroy the human from the inside. It would probably hurt a lot."

"The last statement was unnecessary." Surprisingly, it was Lucas who said this, in a low voice. "The one before it worked fine."

_It's possible for the pokemon to destroy the human from the inside._

"All right, fine," Rachel determined. "Tell us where it is, and we'll go get it."

Fennel beamed. "I'm so glad you'll hel–"

"Where is it," Rachel repeated dangerously.

Fennel's smile shrank, replaced by an offended look. "You don't need to be so mean. There's a hole in the wall you can go through, and then you'll find a staircase nearby. The stairs lead to an underground lab that's still in full function. It's somewhere here, though I'm not sure where exactly. You'll have to look around."

"All right." Rachel strode over to the door.

"Oh, and I'm sure we could lend you a pokeball or two if you can get it," Fennel mentioned.

"Whatever." Rachel held the door open for Andrea and Lucas. She shot a last glance at Fennel. "That was a really dirty thing to say to someone whose life you ruined."

"Ruin it? We didn't ruin it. We'd been using the ralts in other experiments, and it lost its psychic abilities during one. We didn't have any better use for it, so we put it in that experiment to get it out of our hair," Fennel explained casually.

Rachel stared. "I take it back," she quipped, "You're just sick."

As she shut the door, she heard Amanita saying, "What was that all about?"

* * *

><p><strong>CARMEN! Da da tri-pu-let da da daa, da da da da deeaduh duh da da da… It's my marching band's field show music by Jay Dawson. It's on YouTube, submitted by someone called tom76414 under the title "Carmen  Marching Band". It's crazily epic.**

**This chapter is dedicated to my section leader in band. He's been a huge help to me, whether it's working on the rhythms or finding a way for a friend of mine to talk to me again. I don't think he'll ever read this, but thanks, Michael.**

**Marching band season is over D: Luckily for you, this does mean more updates (maybe?) See you then!**

**~A. Eon.**


	8. Liberation

**So I remembered that I first published Novas sometime in January last year. I went online and checked.**

**And hello anniversary.**

**Or maybe it's birthday…?**

**Well, here's chapter eight.**

* * *

><p>"So where <em>is<em> the Dreamyard?" Rachel wondered.

Andrea stuck her map in the light of a street lamp. "The entrance isn't far from the gym. You take a path without many buildings on it and soon you reach trees."

"Great. So we just crossed town only to cross back to the other side, this time with a threat," Rachel huffed.

Andrea tilted her head. "Are you okay?"

Rachel sighed and fidgeted with her shell necklace. "Fennel's an *sshole," she said tiredly.

Andrea shrugged and folded her map back up. "Can't fix that."

Rachel was still ticked off. When you ruin the life of a normal teenage boy, you do _not_ threaten to make his life worse.

Lucas was completely silent, as a result of what Fennel'd said. Even though it was night, he still had that gray hat on, shielding his face from view.

_He's okay_, Eist let Rachel know. _Ether says they're both in a bad mood right now – Ether's mad and Lucas is kinda something else. Not really sad, but way not happy. At least they finally agree on something._

Trust Eist to see the bright side of everything. _Is Ether plotting revenge again?_ Rachel asked.

Eist giggled. _Course. He's Ether._

In a few minutes they'd reached the gym again. Now that they were looking for it, the path without buildings nearby was easy to spot. The road led straight through a dark copse. No streetlights lined the route.

Windless, quiet trees lined the path, weaving a net of branches that blocked the sky. The only sound anywhere was from their feet on the stone walkway. Striaton City's dim streetlamps seemed painfully bright compared to here.

"Keep an eye out so we don't get mugged," Andrea warned.

Lucas raised his head a little. Glancing under the hat, Rachel noticed his eyes were tired – not from lack of sleep so much as general exhaustion, though. She'd almost expected him to show Ether's characteristic rage.

"So I know you've been looking at the pokedex," Rachel addressed Lucas a minute later, "but how far have you gotten?" she asked Andrea.

"I've gone roughly up to this one called Emolga," Andrea answered. "It's like a pachirisu on wings. It's even part electric."

"A lot of the pokemon here are like ones from other regions," Lucas added, suddenly reanimated. "Bisharp is like gallade, bouffalant are like tauros with more hair and only one tail, gigaliths are the same as gravelers but made of different rocks."

"They say Unovan pokemon are different from pokemon in the rest of the world, but it looks more like a bunch of pokemon just got separated from all the others and became different over time," Rachel theorized.

Lucas groaned. "Stage evolution is so much easier than gradual evolution."

Rachel was surprised. "Really? It's not so bad. They're almost the same thing."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but… the technical stuff," he explained.

"Genetics?"

"That."

"You can explain genetics to him in a sec; I think we've almost reached the Dreamyard," Andrea called.

The grove was showing signs of light in front of the three. It wasn't quite bright, but their eyes had adjusted to the rest of the darkness enough that it seemed to be. As they drew closer, Rachel could see a stone-and-wood wall that stretched from where the trees ended to around half a football field away.

"There's a hole in the wall here," Rachel pointed out. In the middle of a mesh of wood nearby, a gap had been ripped through. It had evidently been there for a while, judging by the thick brush growing through it.

Lucas approached the overgrown shrub and tugged on the woody branches blocking the entrance. They rocked a bit, but didn't bend nearly enough to let anything through.

"Rachel," Andrea said, "I could burn the plant if you douse the fire after."

"Sure," Rachel agreed. "Lucas, look out."

He didn't get away. "This isn't it," he decided.

"It's a hole in the wall," Andrea stated.

"The tree's been here a while. The lab's still active, so people like Fennel have to get in and out of it."

Rachel saw what he was saying. "You're right. Let's keep looking."

It was on the opposite end of the 50-yard-long wall. This one wasn't a hole in the wall so much as a rectangular, person-sized opening.

"Way to be vague, Fennel," Rachel muttered.

Andrea led the way through. Inside lay a thicket of grass and a crumbling stone wall. "See any stairs?"

They surveyed the area around them. Ruined piles of concrete and half-fallen steel frames showed up every few feet. Andrea slipped on a pile of rubble; Lucas nearly stabbed his foot with a nail. Gradually, the world grew yet darker. Rachel shivered and pulled her jacket from her bag.

As she concentrated on sliding her bandaged right arm through its sleeve, Rachel nearly stumbled over a sudden ledge. It was a sharp drop into another room through a square hole in the ground. On the side of the square opposite Rachel, there was a set of stairs leading down.

"Over here," she called out. Her voice rang dimly through the wreckage.

Andrea found her first. "_Wow_ that's dangerous," she remarked.

"I almost fell in," Rachel admitted.

Lucas stepped out from behind a mostly intact wall. "Where?" he said.

Rachel pointed. "Here. Stairs. Hole. Yep."

_Yeppy_, confirmed Eist.

She strode quickly around the edge of the hole and descended the stone stairs. Underground, it was nearly pitch black, with only a few breaks in the ground above to let light through.

"Can you see anything?" Andrea murmured.

"Can't you use fire?" Lucas remembered.

"Oh yeah…" A spark, and Andrea's fingers burned like candles. She seemed surprised, but unharmed.

With the flames illuminating the chamber, they could now see everything. Vials and test tube racks lined a counter around the perimeter of the room. Tall chambers with a cloudy pink substance within them stood every 8 steps or so across the room. Lab tables protruded from one end of the room, complete with a sink and gas nozzles at each one, and clear cabinets with chemicals inside hung over most of the countertops.

"See it anywhere?" Rachel asked quietly.

They checked around – on the tables, under stools, inside cabinets, even in the sinks, just in case. When they had completely determined the notebook's absence from the room, the trio walked through a doorway into another room. "This place feels weird," Lucas said warily.

"Feels?" Rachel wondered.

"Yeah. Psychic kinda feel."

"No wonder I can't feel a thing," Andrea figured.

"Same here," said Rachel. "It does look different somehow…"

For the most part, this segment of the lab was the same. Lab tables, counters, cabinets…

"Oh, look," Andrea illuminated the transparent chambers with the fire on her fingers.

Inside the glass columns were clouds of colored mist. Unlike the cheery pink of the others, though, these cases contained dark, dreary purple-gray gas in them.

"Fennel mentioned corrupted dream mist, didn't she?" Andrea remembered.

Lucas took a closer look and visibly shuddered. _Wonder what he saw_, Rachel thought.

_Should I ask Ether?_ Eist asked.

_I guess you could._

She waited a minute, meanwhile looking through cabinets in search of the notebook, then Eist said, _Ether and Lucas both see little pieces of chaos. Ether says the __really__ scary part about it is that there's big big happiness mixed in so well that the bad stuff and the good stuff are like the same thing._

Rachel understood. _The corrupt dreams_.

_Yeppy_, Eist said mournfully.

They had been searching for a while when Andrea suddenly spoke. "Do you hear that?"

Lucas and Rachel paused. A few voices floated over to them.

"…not here… next room?"

"…searching… must be hidden…"

"Isn't the lab closed?" Rachel whispered.

Andrea shrugged, frowning. "We got in," she pointed out, snuffing out the flames on her fingers anyways. The sudden darkness wasn't quite as dark as it ought to have been… Light was coming in through a doorway.

"…I'd hate to give up we don't find it." The owner of the voice came though a doorway into the lab room, followed by two others. Two men, one woman. The man who had been speaking carried a flashlight, illuminating the outlines of a sharply pointed nose and chin.

The other man's face was round and boyish, an effect aided by the wide eyes set in his face. He was quite a bit taller than the other man, and maybe twice as slim.

The woman's height was in between that of the first two, though closer to the shorter man. Her young face suggested an age near that of the tall man's.

Each of them were dressed in the uniform for Team Justice – boots, wide belt, a vest, the black and white charm in the shape of a balance.

"Xavier – Xavier, someone's here," the woman suddenly said.

The Team Justice members suddenly stopped. A beam of light found Andrea, who winced under the unexpected brightness.

"What… What are you doing here?" the short man wondered.

"Aah… Looking for something. One of the scientists asked us to find it," Andrea replied, making her voice as calm as she could.

_Asked is stretching it_, Rachel thought sourly.

"Ah." The man scrutinized her with pale blue eyes.

"What are you looking for?" the woman interrogated.

"Why?" Rachel spoke up. The short man trained the flashlight on her, pressing white light painfully against the backs of her eyes.

"Oh, there's two of you," he said in surprise.

Rachel didn't mention that there were three. "Why do you want to know?"

"Xavier, this looks fishy," the woman said suspiciously.

"Megan, it's fine." To Rachel and Andrea, he said, "No particular reason. Is it something you're hiding from me?"

"Not really," Andrea said slowly. "Just a notebook for a scientist. Why are _you _here?"

Megan clicked her tongue. "Jeez, kids have to stick their noses into everything. That's how Team Plasma fell. It's a pokeball. Happy?"

"What sort of pokeball?" When Megan glared at her, Rachel hastily said, "Maybe we've seen it."

"Just a normal pokeball. It contains a musharna – the one who created all the dream mist in here," Xavier explained.

Megan's dark eyes didn't leave Rachel. "So who's this notebook for?"

"Her name's Fennel," Andrea said casually.

Xavier glanced at Megan. "Professor Fennel, eh? What's she researching now? I thought she picked up a new project a couple'a months ago."

"Combining humans and pokemon," the tall man said suddenly. His voice was deep and solemn.

_Oh, crap_, Rachel thought.

_Ooh, you said a bad word_, Eist sang.

"Erik, what?" Megan wondered.

"The project Lord N despises so much," Erik replied. His hazel eyes traveled to Andrea. "And those two match the descriptions of the girls N told us to watch out for.

Rachel flinched as Megan's gaze turned venomous. "No wonder you came. Helping the experiment that made you a new, _disgusting_ being."

"And what about you?" Lucas had been quiet up until now, but Megan's remark had been a low blow for him. "Team Justice's goal is 'liberation' – you're going to steal this Musharna and release it, aren't you."

Megan smirked. "Hey, not bad. Guess even the worst sort of living things have some sense."

Erik muttered something to Xavier, who nodded. Rachel watched warily as Erik headed back through the way they'd just come.

"While he's occupied, let's battle. You three are enemies of Team Plasma, and we're going to defeat you and bring you to Lord N," Megan declared.

"What? Why?" Andrea wondered.

"Because he wants to remove this new imperfection with his own hands. Go, Sandile!"

"Patrat, standby," Xavier called. Both he and Megan threw a pokemon out from their belt.

"Not in a _lab_," Andrea scoffed.

Megan shrugged. "You don't have to fight." Just makes it easier for us, though. Sandile, tackle!"

"Patrat, you too."

The two pokemon lunged. "GYAH DON'T JUST – oof," Rachel grunted as the brown tetrapod totodile rammed his head into her stomach. The other pokemon, a sentret with a short, spiky tail and rings around her eyes, launched herself at Andrea who dodged. Patrat ran into a counter, shaking the test tubes and flasks on its top.

Rachel caught the Sandile as he tried to scamper away. Holding him carefully so he couldn't bite her hand (hey, totodiles like to bite things, so why not these guys?) she asked Lucas, "Do you remember this guy's type?"

Lucas winced as his eyes flashed red. "Ether, I _got_ this. Sandile's ground and dark, he let her know, conjuring a flurry of leaves by his hand. Rachel held the Sandile away from her so that Lucas could thrust the magical leaves at him. The leaf edges nicked her hands, but not too badly. And anyways, the wounds under the bandages she wore were much worse.

Glancing sideways, she found Andrea battling the patrat.

"Sandile, sandstorm!" Megan yelled.

"Sann!" the ground-dark totodile cried, releasing a cyclone of sand and dust straight into the faces of Lucas and Rachel. Eyes stinging, Rachel let go of him and tried to cough out the sand in her throat.

Megan called something over the roar of the sandstorm. In a moment, Rachel felt the sandile's tough hide smack her face.

_Ow…_

_Quick, use water gun!_ Eist prompted.

Rachel acted fast, blasting the pokemon into a lab table with her water gun. A wave of shining green followed her attack – she was pretty sure it was magical leaf, but both the lack of light and the sand flying in her eyes impaired her vision.

Something wet and smushy hit her face like a punch. Wiping some of it away – it felt like mud – she blindly washed the area in front of her with a stream of water. A dim shout floated through the rough wind to her ears… a female shout. She wasn't sure whose. A second mud bomb (or mud shot, or whatever) struck her hard in the chest. Staggering backward, Rachel found something smooth and cold at her back.

"No –" she heard a male voice choke, "it's going to break…"

She couldn't see a thing anymore. Rachel pressed against the glass behind her and waited for an attacker to approach.

The attack came thirty seconds later, in the form of a hand gripping her wrist. Rachel started and tried to retaliate, but the hand yanked her sharply forward. Her feet stumbled to catch up.

And then she was out. Gasping for air clear of coarse sand, Rachel looked around with red, watery eyes. The sandstorm behind her was dying away, settling on the concrete floor and dissipating into wisps of ground energy. Lucas stood by a lab table, as sand-coated as she was, and Andrea was the one who'd pulled her out.

"Battle weather only goes away after all the battlers are out," Andrea explained. Her fingertips were aflame again. "And the sand was wearing away at the glass."

Farther back was the glass column Rachel had been standing by. It did look worn: the once-clear glass now had a frosted look to it, and a few cracks threatened to let the dark gas within escape.

"Where'd Justice go?" Rachel wanted to know.

"Ran away. They were afraid of the thing breaking," Andrea informed her.

"They reason to be afraid," Lucas stated firmly. "The dream mist would get out."

Andrea raised her eyebrows. "What does it do?"

Lucas shook his head. "I don't know, but it would be really bad if it got out."

Rachel brushed a cloud of sand off her shoulders. "We still haven't found the notebook," she groaned.  
>The three tiredly traipsed into the next room over – it was much bigger, cluttered with boxes and larger glass tanks with dream mist within. Andrea's made her hand's flame stop burning.<p>

Near a wall stood the three Justice members. Rachel felt contempt when she saw that Megan was soaked. A large pokemon floated in front of them, eyes closed as though asleep. With a round pink-and-purple body, it could only be–

"Musharna," Xavier articulated, "you are free. No longer are you confined to the minute metal cage you were forced to call home. You may go wherever you like, do whatever you want to do, and no human will restrict you again."

The psychic type gave a puff of pink smoke from the top of her head: dream mist. "Muu~" she lilted, her tone dreamy. Musharna floated up and drifted through an opening into the night.

Andrea pulled Lucas and Rachel behind a stack of boxes as the three grunts turned around. "You sure we couldn't have kept it?" Megan wondered.

"Course not," Erik's voice rumbled. "It's against Justice's ideals. And anyways, Team Justice has greater things in mind than a laboratory's musharna."

"Point taken," Megan agreed. "Let's leave now."

Footsteps neared – Andrea's hold on Lucas's and Rachel's arms tightened – and grew distant. The teens were the only ones left in the room.

Lucas stretched his arm backwards and pulled something off a desktop behind them: a purple spiralbound notebook with the name "Professor Fennel" written on the cover.

"Thank Arceus," Andrea groaned. "This has been enough excitement for one night."

* * *

><p>Fennel was taken aback at the sight of three sandy, muddy teenagers on her doorstep. "What happened?" I asked you to get a notebook, not take a trip to Desert Resort."<p>

"Here's your book," Rachel said, thrusting it into the scientist's hands. "Don't ask about the sand. And why would anyone put a resort in a place with sandstorms, that's crazy."

The bathroom, fortunately, had both a washtub and a shower in it, separated by panes of frosted glass – two people could go at once. Rachel and Andrea went first, Rachel opting for the shower to keep her bandaged leg as dry as possible. It was clean anyways, having been well-covered in the battle. The rest of her wounds still smarted under the flow of hot water.

Finishing first, Rachel slipped into a navy blue tee plus the shorts Cress had given her. Hoping for the best, she folded the used dressing over so that a clean surface was in contact with the skin on her arms. Rachel rewrapped her arms, brushed her tangled hair, and stepped into the hallway outside.

Voices reverberated distantly through the hall. "That's so cool – have you ever seen a piplup before?" That was Amanita.

"Almost. My sister had one, but she evolved him before I got to see him." Lucas.

"How about a shaymin?"

"Shaymin? Those are rare. They seem pretty awesome, though."

Amanita giggled. "Really? They're all flowery."

"Powerful still. Their signature move is basically explosion, but the shaymin doesn't faint," Lucas described as Rachel turned left at the end of the hall.

"Hey Rachel," Amanita greeted the newcomer. Lucas whose back was to Rachel, swiveled around. The two were seated in the kitchen, chatting.

"Hi. Have you seen Fennel?" Rachel asked.

"She's probably in her study," Amanita responded, pointing back down the hall.

"Thanks." Rachel turned back, confusion bumping into the thoughts in her head. Was there something different about Lucas?

_He seemed pretty happy_, Eist mentioned. Rachel frowned.

_Andrea and I don't make him unhappy, do we?_

_No, he's happy with you guys too. Umm…_ Eist gave it some thought. _A different kinda happy._

Fennel's study was through a partially closed door past the bathroom. She sat at a desk, examining something in front of her.

"Fennel."

The scientist looked up from her work. "Oh, hey." She pushed her rolling chair back, giving Rachel a view of the figurines on the desk. They appeared to be a ho-oh, a munna, and one of those little fluffy whatchamacallems… Minccino. "Sup," Fennel said.

"I wanted to ask if you have a name for us besides 'pokemon-human hybrids'," Rachel stated.

Fennel rubbed her left temple. "No. I hadn't thought of calling it something else."

"Could I name it?"

Fennel's head jumped away from the fingers massaging it, surprised. "Er… I don't see why not," she admitted.

"Nova. Plural novas," Rachel said immediately.

Fennel considered it. "Nice ring to it," she commented. "And then there's the whole idea that it's brilliant and fantastic."

"So?"

"I'll bring it up with Aurea, though I doubt she'll object. It's a nice name."

Rachel nodded in acknowledgement and turned away.

"Rach."

"My name is Rachel."

"Rachel, then." Fennel paused. "I hope you're not taking the fusion too hard. You'll appreciate it eventually."

Rachel spun around. "Good Arceus, are you _tri_polar? You threatened us earlier, now you're _hoping we're not taking it too hard._ And there's also that ignorant oh-my-gosh-you-got-assaulted-by-a-pair-of-snivies-in-the-middle-of-the-night façade," Rachel accused.

"Want to come see what I'm working on?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes at the change in topic. "What?" she inquired, turning around.

Fennel beckoned her closer. "It's an attempt at making legendary pokemon hy– Uh, novas."

"You're going to fuse someone with a ho-oh by looking at a plastic action figure?"

Fennel smiled. "It's how I begin all my analyses. I've got an oshawott one in a drawer somewhere for your fusion. A dewott and samurott too."

Rachel vaguely recalled that these were oshawott's evolutions. "What does analyzing them do?"

"Gives me a general idea of their genome possibilities."

Rachel stared. "Genomes are big," she stated bluntly. "Very, very big."

"I'm not the only one working on this. And we're used to doing it, anyways."

"That's still a lot of sequencing."

Fennel shrugged and pulled the pink plastic barrette out of her hair. "It only takes one go to locate each gene in a certain species – the hard part. After that it's easy. Anyways, I'll get back to my work now."

_They're good_, Rachel thought with new respect. Aloud, she said, "All right." Rachel left Fennel to examine her plastic pokemon.

_So how come you wanted to name it? _Eist wanted to know.

Rachel's mouth hinted a smile. _I wanted to feel like I have some control over all that's going on. The vulnerability of it all was getting to me._

_Oh. Any better now?_

_A little._

She tripped on the living room rug.

* * *

><p>Fennel stayed true to her word and supplied them with food and sleeping bags for the night. The three settled on the rug in the living room. Andrea fell asleep almost immediately – she hadn't gotten the nap that Rachel and Lucas had. This also meant Rachel and Lucas weren't all that tired.<p>

"You and Amanita became friends fast," Rachel commented, leaning her head on her hands.

Lucas grinned. "Ether's gotten less violent with her around. He stopped wanting to murder Fennel."

"Whoa, that's progress. Now to make him stop hating you."

"That's not gonna happen," he disagreed.

"Sure it can. I mean, did you expect him to ever get less violent?" Rachel pointed out.

"No. But he's still a bloodthirsty bastard; just less of one," Lucas replied cheerfully.

His eyes unexpectedly flashed scarlet. Lucas's body shifted sideways before his eyes reverted back to brown. "Ow," Lucas hissed, rolling back into his previous position. "Ether, that was _evil_."

"What was that?" Rachel wondered, puzzled.

"He put my weight on my bad side," Lucas explained, rubbing the spot where Panpour had clawed him.

"It isn't any better?"

He shook his head.

"Dang. I was hoping we'd get mad pokemon-healing abilities," Rachel sighed.

"That's the heal machines. They create something like the heal pulse that Chanseys use," Lucas informed her.

"Oh," Rachel said, surprised. "Well, I'm not sticking myself in a pokeball, so forget that."

"You neither? Good," Lucas determined.

"Go to sleep," Andrea muttered from her sleeping bag.

Rachel shot Lucas a startled look. He returned with one that was amused. _Well, __that__ was unexpected_, both their expressions said.

They did go to sleep.

* * *

><p>Rachel awoke slowly, letting light that streamed through the front windows warm her face. Yawning, she stretched out an arm and pulled her bag closer so she could grab her iPod. For several minutes she listened to Gandy Dancers, her mind sleepily rocking back and forth with the mallet percussion.<p>

Suddenly she bolted upright and flung her earbuds away. _Andrea, where's Andrea_, she thought blearily.

The older girl was still asleep, lying inside the green sleeping bag from Fennel. Rachel quickly scanned for signs of fire. Seeing none, she sighed in relief. Fortunately, Andrea hadn't gone charmander overnight.

Lucas, unsurprisingly, was still asleep.

The sound and smell of coffee brewing wafted over to where Rachel was. Setting her iPod aside, she followed the scent to the kitchen. Amanita was pouring a mug of coffee, her hair in braids.

"Morning," Amanita said. "Coffee?"

Rachel declined – coffee didn't generally agree with her. "Are we the only ones up?"

Fennel's sister nodded. "Yup."

_Yeppy_, yawned Eist.

"You guys staying in Striaton any longer?" Amanita asked.

Rachel shook her head. "We're heading straight to the next city."

A disappointed exhale. "Hm… Well, you guys'll like Nacrene. It's got lots of nice art galleries and cafés and stuff. Unlike Castelia, it's a very relaxed city."

"What's the gym leader like?" Rachel wanted to know.

Amanita grinned. "Right, you guys are going for badges. She's known for being observative and tactical. You have to pass a logic test before you reach Lenora."

"She sounds tough."

"She is."

"Normal type, right?"

"Yep."

_Yeppy_, Eist repeated.

"Normal is hardly considered a type in Sinnoh," Rachel mentioned.

"You'll change your mind after meeting Lenora," Amanita said, shrugging.

"So how far away is Nacrene City?" Rachel asked.

"It's a bit longer than the distance between Accumula and here. After that, though, is Pinwheel Forest. Do _not_ get lost in there. It's just a bad idea."

"Lost where?" Fennel came in behind Rachel, shoving her glasses on her face.

"Lost in Pinwheel," Amanita replied.

"Ooh. Yeah, don't. It's a patternless, endless maze in there," Fennel agreed, making a face as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"I've got a map," Andrea mentioned, following Fennel into the kitchen.

"Coffee?"

"No thanks."

"They don't make detailed maps of the forest," Amanita said. "Pinwheel Forest has a nice, straight road though. As long as you don't veer off, you'll be fine."

"If you want to make it to Nacrene before noon, you'd probably want to leave soon," Fennel interrupted.

Rachel and Andrea exchanged a look.

"You want to wake him up?"

"I think it's your turn."

Amanita giggled. "I'll do it." She picked up her mug and strode into the living room.

"I rolled up your sleeping bag," Andrea mentioned.

"Oh – right, thanks."

Fennel found a bowl of fruit in the fridge and set it on the table.

"Your iPod was playing Gandy Dancers, by the way."

"It's still on?"

"Not anymore. Nice choice in music, though," Andrea said cheerfully. Rachel laughed.

"Dunno why you guys made such a big deal about it," Amanita said, shrugging. Lucas followed her in, looking sleepy but awake.

"How'd you do that?" Rachel was shocked.

"Magic," Amanita said simply, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to Lucas.

It took them only twenty minutes to head out. The sleeping bags stayed with Fennel – with any luck, they would be able to stay in the Pokemon Centers from now on, anyways.

"Wait a sec." Amanita rushed into a room on the right side of the hall. In a moment, she returned with a trio of objects in her hands.

"This is to start you guys off," she said, handing the pokeballs to Lucas. He smiled and gave one to Rachel and Andrea. "The Pokemon Centers sell some in their shops, if you need more," Amanita added.

"Thanks," Andrea said. "See you around?"

Amanita grinned. "Maybe," she said mischievously.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Song of the Gandy Dancers" is by Richard Saucedo. For short we just call it "Gandy Dancers." My school's symphonic band (Andrea included) played it at a competition and sounded better than the recording you'll find on YouTube. I kid you not. I never knew a saxophone could sound the way the sax soloist played it, either. Amazing (and they won first place in the concert band category ;D).<strong>

**Dream mist apparently can affect those who inhale/touch/are exposed to it. I vaguely remember something like the person absorbs the dream…? In this case their minds would have absorbed the corrupt ambitions of the old scientists if they'd touched it. I might have this wrong, but I know for sure it can at least put you to sleep indefinitely.**

**Fennel rubbed her left temple at one point. That was a reference to when I threw an empty blueberry container at Lucas last year and it hit his left temple. Good times, good times.**

**Xavier is named after my friend's bell set, Megan is named after Grace's clarinet, and Erik's name comes from Jonathan's trombone. I named them all :D Naming instruments is a hobby of mine.**

**That's all. My idea of what this story is going to be is becoming stronger as time goes on, so updates may or may not quicken…?**

**I bet I just jinxed it, right there.**

**~A. Eon**


	9. Slipping

**WHEW. So every winter music program I was in at my school is finally over, and spring break is in a few days. I finished this about four days after I wanted to; four days ago was the last competition. But now it's out, finally.**

**Any Pokedex entries are written by Nintendo.**

* * *

><p>The gardens weren't as impressive as Andrea's map implied. Dull, spiky bushes lined walkways between flowerless rosebushes and trees. The only colors were dead brown and the chilly dark green of pines. Considering the wintry weather Striaton was getting, though, it looked pretty nice.<p>

_But it's probably a lot better-looking in spring_, Rachel admitted.

At any rate, they passed right through the gardens without looking around, stopping only to confirm with a security guard that they had each obtained the Trio Badge. Travel really was strict around here, and not just on the borders.

"Aww, a preschool," Andrea said in delight.

A playground lay on a small piece of land in front of them. Two buildings sitting side by side were labeled with signs: Wellspring Preschool and Pokemon Day Care. Young, tottering pokemon scampered around a yard by the Day Care, and tiny kids who couldn't have been more than four years old chased each other around the playground.

"Look, they're shorter than Lucas," Andrea piped up.

"Heyyy…"

"Hello there!" A man with a white beard and barely any other hair waved from the Day Care. "Would you three be trainers?"

"Yep," Andrea called back.

"I'm the Day Care Man! Would you like to stop by?" Some of the kids in the play yard were watching in interest.

Andrea looked once at Rachel's and Lucas's impassive expressions and replied, "We're just passing through. Maybe another time."

"All right then, stay safe on your journey."

"Thanks," Andrea yelled. The Day Care Man went back inside.

The road continued straight for maybe an hour or so. Rachel saw a split in the road up ahead, with a path going right and a path going to the left.

"To get to Nacrene, we need to go…" Andrea consulted the map.

While Andrea tried to figure out which way south was, Rachel spotted some people walking around the bend. Two men, though neither could have been older than twenty. Both were now heading down the road going straight, striding quickly. And both were wearing – yes, it had to be – the Team Justice uniform.

"South is left," Andrea finally figured out.

"Let's go straight, first," Lucas suggested. He, too, had seen the Team Justice members.

"Why… Oh, what are they doing here?" Andrea wondered in surprise, seeing the cause of Lucas's request.

"Let's find out," Rachel said, starting to walk at a brisk pace.

It took twenty more minutes for the grunts to leave the road and disappear behind a patch of foliage. The three teenagers caught up and went around the trees to find… no one.

"So much for that," muttered Rachel.

"There's a cave," Lucas noticed.

Rachel looked. A solid-looking, steep cliff stood in front of them. Several yards to the right was a narrow crevice, a hint that the wall might not have been entirely solid.

"Shall we enter?" Rachel said with mock formality.

They did. The voices grew a little clearer as they walked in the cave's constant night. Andrea's fingers served as their flashlight again. Soft squeaks above them suggested the presence of bat pokemon, maybe not zubat but some kind of cave creature.

"…Sure we can dump 'em here?"

"I'm _sure_." The haste of this voice indicated impatience and annoyance. "Who would look for their pokemon here?"

"Them pokemon'll have a hell of a time getting outta this cave," the first voice pointed out.

"Ehh. It's fine. Not our problem, as long as they're liberated."

Liberated. Definitely Team Justice.

A light steadily grew somewhere ahead of them. Andrea soon doused the flame in her hand and started picking her way down a rocky downwards slope. Lucas followed her down, hands in his pockets. Rachel wasn't sure if he was trying to show off or if he was just that confident of his footing.

She began the descent, arms outstretched for balance. Andrea and Lucas had already reached the bottom by the time Rachel was still halfway up. Rachel sped up a little, not being so careful with the placement of her feet.

Her shoe hit a slick patch of sandy dirt, making a loud skidding noise as she slipped. Rachel caught herself before falling over and didn't move. Andrea and Lucas had frozen, too.

"…hear something?" a voice echoed.

"Mm? No."

"Oh."

Exhaling, Rachel clambered down the slope again, slower than before. _Go on_, she mouthed at Andrea and Lucas, signaling them forward. Andrea raised her eyebrows, tacitly replying, _Are you sure?_ Rachel nodded. Her friends went to catch up to the Team Justice members.

_Why'dja do that?_ Eist wondered. _Now we're all alone._

_Can't lose Team Justice. And besides, we're not alone, we have each other._

Eist didn't mind her ridiculously hackneyed words, or if he did, he didn't say anything. As Rachel picked her way through the rocks, she heard a sharp, high pokemon cry. It wasn't one she identified, but it was a pokemon, all the same.

Her steps got a little faster, though not fast enough to risk another slip. The pokemon made a noise that was clearly supposed to be menacing, but the soprano pitch of the call made it anything but. Rachel started to hear crashes and bangs – a battle?

One of the Team Justice members' voices bounced over to her: "Come on! Stupid thing, just give up! You're staying here!"

There was a hiss, an ekanslike hiss, and the high-pitched pokemon gave a sharp squeal and went quiet.

The other Justice member spoke. "Let's get outta here. Before the other ones rebel too."

Careless footsteps crunched through gravel in the passage below Rachel. She ducked by a wall and hoped they wouldn't see her…

Rachel flinched. The grunts' loud voices and bright flashlights had entered, and now the pair was climbing the rocky slope. "Seems a shame to just leave 'em there, though."

"Consider that. We're working toward liberation, so of course there's no need to keep more pokemon than necessary."

"Ehh… guess you're right."

"We won't need them anyways. They'll reach their full potential here."

"Even the grass type, in this dark cave?"

"You hush up. The stupid petilil will be fine."

" 'Kay…"

Rachel gawked at the two men who passed right by without noticing her. The dictionary listed what had just happened as, "See 'dumb luck'."

She continued down the slope until, finally, she reached the bottom. It wasn't hard to find her way after that, even with the flow of the grunts' flashlights gone. The cave only went one way, and soon Rachel noticed a shimmer of orange coming from the direction she was headed.

A few steps more, and Rachel reached a small chamber where her friends were. Andrea leaned over something small and green, while Lucas dug through Andrea's bag nearby. A pair of roggenrola and a blitzle watched from a few feet away.

_What're you guys doing here?_ Eist asked. It took Rachel a moment to figure out who Eist was talking to. One of the roggenrola chirruped, then Eist said, _Really? How'd they take you?_

_Translation?_ Rachel asked while the roggenrola chattered a response.

_They were taken from their trainers. Team Justice fought the trainers and then took and released them. The petilil Andrea's with has a different story or something._

The petilil in question was unconscious. Her body was covered in bruises, and a slash across her middle oozed a green, viscous fluid that seemed to be plant blood.

"Use this," Lucas said suddenly, taking something from Andrea's bag.

Andrea caught the item he threw to her with the hand that wasn't on fire. It was her pokeball, the one she'd gotten from Amanita. "How's this supposed to help?"

"The petilil isn't looking real great, and we don't have medicine or anything. The best you can do is stick her in a pokeball and get her to Nacrene City. She'll be safe in it," Lucas explained.

Andrea seemed surprised. "But… You heard them, all these pokemon have trainers already, I can't just steal a pokemon."

"The petilil doesn't have a trainer anymore. Team Justice took care of that," Lucas responded seriously.

Andrea was still hesitant.

"Come on, Andrea." Rachel said, backing Lucas.

Andrea seemed unconvinced still, but the sight of the petilil's green blood seemed to sway her decision. She tapped the pokeball lightly against the top of the grass-type's head. With a red flash, the pokemon disappeared inside. The pokeball didn't even shake before clicking; the petilil was in that bad a condition.

Andrea stood back up. "Let's get to Nacrene City soon so we can heal her."

This wasn't as easy as they hoped. Rachel sucked it up and climbed the rock slope recklessly fast, which led to a slip every ten seconds or less. She brushed the grit from her knees when they reached the top. Something might have smudged across where she wiped her hand, but she ignored it. It wasn't enough blood to worry about. However, it did peeve her a bit that the electric zebra could climb faster than her. The roggenrolas were even faster.

They kept walking with Andrea's fingers as their torch, but eventually Rachel started to wonder if they had walked for _this_ _long_ when they first came in.

"Are we lost?" she finally wondered aloud.

"Yep," Lucas said immediately.

"It must have branched off somewhere we didn't see before," Andrea groaned.

_Maybe the roggenrolas_ _know how to get out_, Eist suggested. Rachel relayed this to her friends. A roggenrola chirped in response, and Eist translated, _They're trainer-born. From trainers who held their egg. They've never even seen a cave before._

Rachel got an unexplainable feeling that someone was watching her. She turned around and found a pair of beady eyes staring at her from the ground.

"GYAHH!" Reflexively shooting water at the creature, she jumped away.

"What is it?" Andrea asked anxiously.

"I don't know!"

"What?"

"I mean, I don't know what it was!"

"_Drilbur, the Mole Pokemon. It makes its way swiftly through the soil by putting both claws together and rotating at high speed_," whirred Lucas's Xtranceiver.

"It's a drilbur," Lucas announced.

The now-wet ground type launched himself out of the ground. He looked really pissed off.

"ARCEUS WHY," Rachel yelled, running from the drilbur's fury swipes. She swung her hand at a fury swipe, filling the hand with water energy and blasting forward with a waterpunch.

It was the drilbur's turn to squeal. He shot a jet of mud water at Rachel's legs, spattering front of her bandages with brown spots.

_The slash is on the back of your leg, right?_ Eist wanted to check.

_It is. And it's "our" leg now. Remember?_ Rachel launched a water gun at the drilbur. He dug his way underground. Without hesitation, Rachel blasted water down the hole he'd disappeared into – the drilbur was thrown out of the ground nearby, a jet of water pushing him up. He growled and shot another muddy water attack at her. She dodged.

The drilbur jumped and extended his claws, making them glow white with normal-type energy. Rachel focused a waterpunch and thrust her fist forward. Razor-tipped claws skimmed her arm, cutting just a few slits into her skin.

_If that's it, I think we're done_, Rachel thought.

By increasing the flow of water to her hand, she managed to knock the drilbur suddenly to the ground. Even in the near-darkness, she could tell he was unconscious.

Rachel suddenly was uncertain. What next?

"Pokeball him," Andrea encouraged her.

She found the plastic sphere in her shorts pocket. Funny that such a fragile object could possibly hold this creature. Rachel pressed the button that expanded the contraption, then threw it at the pokemon.

A flash of red, a disappearance, a wait. Three shakes of the pokeball. The mechanism clicked, releasing a small shower of sparks.

"One problem down. Next problem: getting out," a familiar voice said.

The boy standing near Rachel gave a slight shudder as his eyes returned to brown. "Ether, stop."

Rachel had an idea, though. Picking up the pokeball of the drilbur she'd just caught, she tossed it out and released the pokemon. The drilbur, knowing he was already caught, was calm in her presence. "Hi," Rachel said to him.

"Bur."

"My friends and I are lost. Can you help us find out way out? I'm guessing you know Wellspring Cave pretty well."

The ground-type looked around and started to walk back the way they had been coming before.

It didn't actually take that long; evidently they'd taken the long way to get to where they'd been. Within five minutes they were out in the blinding sunlight.

"Thank you," Rachel said to her new drilbur. "Uh… Do you have a name?"

The drilbur snorted. Eist translated: _Of course I do._

"Okay. What's your name?"

Eist wasn't sure. _I think he said Encore._

"Encore?" Rachel checked.

The drilbur did the closest possible thing to a facepalm he could without having an actual palm. He grunted something to Eist.

_Encon._

"Encon?"

The drilbur nodded, satisfied. "All right, thanks Encon. And sorry for randomly blasting you with water," Rachel added sheepishly.

She returned him to the pokeball, but caught his expression first. It was thoughtful and curious, like he was studying her and wasn't quite sure what she was.

"Nacrene. Let's go heal the petilil," Andrea said suddenly.

Bidding the liberated roggenrolas and blitzle farewell, they went back down the road towards the intersection.

* * *

><p>"It's <em>what<em> time?"

"Three," Lucas said, glancing at his watch.

Andrea exhaled. "Guess we didn't make it before lunch after all. See any berries around?"

No berries in sight; only the tall grasses and trees on one side of the road, and a lake on the other.

"Are we hungry enough to eat grass?" Rachel asked.

"Do you mean 'we' like, the three-or-six of us, or are you asking yourself and Eist, or…?" Andrea said.

"Three-or-six."

"Not me. Lilka says no."

"Ether says yes, but I think he just wants to see me eat grass."

Rachel gave him an exasperated look. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Lucas said defensively.

"I'm looking at Ether," she let him know. "Ether, stop hating. Please. I don't _like_ blasting you with water."

_I do_, Eist piped up.

"Ether says he likes blasting you with leaves," Lucas informed her.

"Well, Eist has decided _he_ likes blasting Ether with water, so I guess between the four of us, we're even," Rachel said.

"You forgot me," Lucas pointed out.

"I didn't. I just assumed you didn't like blasting Eist with leaves. Do you?"

"No."

"Bridge," Andrea announced.

"Bridge?"

"Bridge." She pointed up ahead, where a bridge spanned a narrow part of the lake. Beyond that, Rachel saw what looked like one of the route-town gates.

"Hey, we've reached Nacrene," she said happily.

"Already?" Lucas groaned.

That was a surprise. "It's three pm and we haven't had anything to eat since Fennel's house, and you'd rather keep walking?" Andrea said in surprise.

Lucas didn't respond, though he seemed like he might. He kept glancing over his shoulder like he'd missed something.

* * *

><p>"Your pokemon are all healed. Take care!"<p>

"Oh, wait!"

At Andrea's outburst, the nurse turned back towards them. "Is something wrong?"

"This petilil isn't mine," Andrea explained, handing the nurse the pokeball. Rachel had already taken Encon's pokeball back.

Frowning, the nurse placed the pokeball on a tray next to her computer. "Current trainer Andrea Chen?"

"That's me."

"There's no problem, then," she said, giving the pokeball back.

"Can you tell who the original trainer is?"

Putting it back on the tray, the nurse scanned the screen and said, "Original trainer is Andrea Chen. Caught in Wellspring Cave… What was a petilil doing in Wellspring Cave?"

"Someone released her down there."

The nurse shook her head. "I can't identify an original trainer who's released the pokemon. We don't tag pokemon."

Andrea's face fell. "Oh Thanks anyways."

"Cheer up," Rachel said as they walked away, "You can keep the petilil."

"Yeah, but some trainer out there is missing that petilil," Andrea said.

"Eist mentioned something a roggenrola told him – the other three pokemon were taken from trainers, but that petilil had a different story," Rachel remembered.

Andrea was surprised. "What's the story?"

Rachel shrugged. "The roggenrola didn't say."

"At least you have a pokemon," Lucas finally said.

_He's the only one without one_. Rachel tried to gauge his emotions, but Lucas had them hidden under a perfectly blank face.

"Lunch," Andrea decided, tucking the pokeball in her jeans pocket.

It became evident to Rachel that the older girl didn't realize it. That Lucas was the only one who hadn't caught a pokemon. Rachel, meanwhile, couldn't figure Lucas's reaction to the fact.

She kept looking for it. Throughout lunch Rachel was glancing at him. He seemed fine, his expression was light, she couldn't see anything wrong, really. Lucas didn't show much emotion in the first place.

Rachel finally saw something when she and Andrea brought out their pokemon to give them food. While Andrea and Lilka conversed with the petilil – who seemed a little reticent at first but opened up to them in a few minutes – Rachel caught a flash of something in Lucas's eyes. Not a color flash, like when Ether hijacked him; a flash of emotion.

_Sadness? _It lacked the intensity to tell. The flash faded away so fast, Rachel wondered if she really had seen it.

_Rachel?_ She jumped; she'd just about forgotten Eist was there. _Um… are you busy?_

_Busy?_ She was still just standing there as Andrea and Lilka conversed with the petilil. _With what?_

_Busy figuring out Lucas._

Right. He could hear her thoughts. _I guess not. What is it?_

_I was gonna tell you about Aru._

_Aru?_

_Aru, yep. That's the petilil's name._

_Oh. Go ahead._

_Okay. So her name's Aru, and even though she hatched just last month, she's already gotten strong cause she battled a lot. I bet Team Justice took her cause they thought her trainer was overworking her. She says she likes battle, though. Besides that, she won't talk about where she came from,_ Eist let her know.

_How come?_ Rachel asked, setting a can of pokemon food she'd purchased in front of Encon. The drilbur perked up.

_Dunno, she just won't._

"So," Andrea said, straightening up, "Does a gym battle sound good with you guys?"

Rachel and Lucas stared at her. "We battled a gym just yesterday, walked here from Striaton City this morning, and you're ready for a gym battle?" Rachel said in amazement.

Andrea shrugged sheepishly. "I guess… Might as well get past Nacrene as soon as possible."

"Not yet," pleaded Rachel. "We only just got here."

Andrea twisted her mouth into a thoughtful grimace. "Darn, I wanted to get used to battling with Aru… Hey, it's probably best to spread our battles out over more than only a few hours, right? So if I go today, you guys will have more time tomorrow. And the gym leader won't have to rush in and out of battle and healing and things.

"If you think you can do that, sure," Rachel said.

They agreed to meet in the museum at six. Andrea headed towards it to get through to the gym, while Lucas and Rachel wandered Nacrene. Rachel showed Lucas another song on her iPod – "Phantom of the Opera."

"She must be insane, battling gyms this fast," Rachel mentioned, keeping time to the song with her fingertips.

"Andrea can manage - she's got two pokemon now," Lucas pointed out.

"A pokemon and a nova."

"A... What?"

"Hm...? Oh, nova. I asked Fennel to name the pokemon-human combination 'nova'."

"Wanted a cool name?" He was grinning.

Rachel laughed. "Yeah, that and I wanted to feel like I could control the situation in some way," she agreed.

Lucas shook his head, smiling. "You've got control. Andrea, too. Both of you are doing fine. You could've gone and battled and won too."

"And you?"

His face was dismissive. "Nah. I don't have control over either Ether or the situation." He pronounced "either" exactly the same way as "Ether."

"Dude, you won against an experienced gym pokemon even without typical elemental use," Rachel reminded him.

He was unconvinced. "I just used magical leaf all over the place. And you call that _winning?_"

She remembered Lucas collapsing partway to the medical ward. "You did fine in that battle."

"You and Andrea came out with hardly a scratch. Me –" He fingered the bandages still lining his right arm. "You guys are just better at this."

_He's given up,_ Rachel realized. _He's the smallest, the youngest, the one who did worst at Striaton, the handicapped one, and now the one who hasn't yet caught a pokemon._ She remembered him looking back at the route as they reached Nacrene.

"Let's go back to Route 2," Rachel decided, tapping the pause icon just before the end of the song.

"Why?"

"Your team needs another member."

* * *

><p>Route 2 was warmer than it had been in the morning. Rachel and Lucas stopped on the bridge.<p>

"Any idea what pokemon you wanna look for?" Rachel asked.

Lucas just shook his head.

"Okay... I guess we'll just walk around until we find one?" Rachel guessed.

He trained his eyes on hers. "It's okay, I don't need to catch a pokemon."

_Ohh yes you do._

They walked along the lakeshore. Once in a while one of them glimpsed a pidove, but those always fluttered away. Rachel was starting to lose heart.

"This is a nice lake, actually," Rachel mentioned. "It's a lot clearer than Lake Verity or the marshes in south Twinleaf."

Lucas turned his head towards the lake. "Yeah, it's like, almost fake –"

He'd gotten too close to the edge. A patch of loose dirt slid out from under him. "Whoa–" he gasped.

Rachel moved toward him fast, but Lucas fell into the lake. It was deeper than she'd expected – he sank under.

"Lucas!"

His head surfaced after a few moments. Wiping water out of his eyes, he called out, "I found one!"

_What?_

An orange-and-blue pokemon launched himself from the lake depths and whipped his double tail around. The sonic boom impacted the water in front of Lucas, splashing a wave of water over him. In return, Lucas shot a surge of psychic-edged leaves at the pokemon.

It was a buizel. Rachel had seen pictures of them before, but never actually seen one. The sleek, lithe water-type held a kind of graceful strength in his movements. An amazing find. All Lucas had to do was catch him.

The buizel dove into the lake to avoid the magical leaf and reemerged a fraction of a second later, right behind Lucas. Somehow – maybe his psychic instincts coming out – Lucas was able to fire a volley of leaves backwards at the sea weasel. The buizel, not expecting such an attack, was caught completely off guard by a barrage of leaves hitting him. Slits of red appeared across the pokemon's face.

Summoning water energy between his paws, the buizel blasted an orb of water at Lucas – water pulse. The teenager thrust his hand out of the water and at the sphere, making the oversized water balloon burst on impact. The water sloshed innocuously over his arm.

The buiel tried another method - he enveloped himself in water and streaked at Lucas like a rocket. It seemed so much more of an aquajet than what Rachel had learned from Eist. The move must have had more power, too - the collision shoved Lucas under. Momentum kept the buizel moving, so both battlers were soon out of Rachel's sight.

_Come on, Lucas..._

Water erupting around him, the buizel shot from the water. The aquajet dispersed, though the buizel stayed airborne for just a few moments after that. Those seconds were just enough for Lucas, coughing out water, to emerge from below, gather an arsenal of leaves, and fire the mass at the water type. He managed to focus on the leaves well enough to change their direction, making them turn back and strike the buizel again and again. The leaves eventually lost their edge and dissipated into wisps of grass energy, but it had been enough for the buizel. The pokemon splashed into the water, unconscious.

Lucas drew a pokeball and threw it, catching the buizel on the floating collar. He and Rachel watched the buizel dematerialize into red light and flow into the contraption. The pokeball bobbed like a buoy in the lake. How many times it shook wasn't visible, and any sparks it might've spat out could easily have gone into the water. Lucas reached it in a few strokes – not exactly professional-swimmer style, Rachel saw, but he undoubtedly knew how to swim well enough. The boy grasped the pokeball before the small surge of water from his short swim pushed it away. He swam back without looking at it.

Rachel helped pull him out of the water. Even though he was soaking wet, Lucas's hands were warm, almost feverish. Onshore, Lucas stared at the capsule in this hands.

Definitely a successful catch.

Rachel prepared to gauge his feelings – but suddenly he looked up and they were clear. A smile generally means someone's happy, and it looked genuine enough.

Lucas didn't put away the pokeball away on their return trip to Nacrene. He only let go of it when he gave the buizel to the nurse to heal.

It turned out the buizel's name was Promise. The name fit perfectly – this buizel was a promise that despite everything, despite the disability and Ether and even missing Ally, Lucas would be fine.

Now for the gym.

* * *

><p><strong>"Phantom of the Opera," by Andrew Lloyd Webber and arranged by Paul Lavender. It's the first movement of a field show titled "Phantom of the Opera." I had to put this song in here because it was my Field Conducting song this year. I guess I did pretty well with it, and it's a really cool song.<strong>

**So I guess a few chapters ago I mentioned I was having issues with Lucas, and then a chapter later I mentioned my section leader helping me with "problems with a friend of mine" (meaning, of course, Lucas). I haven't told you how that ended up, so I'll say it now: Lucas and I aren't nearly as close as we were last year, when I started this fanfiction. I refused to give in for about five months, since my friendship with him was one of my most valued ones. At this point I'm all right with our growing apart, although we're so far apart that when I asked Lucas how he pronounced "either" today (for accuracy's sake ;) ) and he said it like "****ether," that was the longest conversation we'd had all month. And it's the 27th of March – practically the end of the month.**

**So... Yeah. I wish I could have written this based off him for longer; now the character will just be based off my memories of him.**

**A few new things may be in the storyline as a result of this; however, not much else has changed. I just thought you ought to know.**

**See you next chapter... Oh, remember the 4-day competition I mentioned in chapter 3 (a year ago O_o)? It's coming around again :D I hope it'll go well this year.**

**kayseeyabye**

**~A. Eon.**


	10. How to Battle a Gym

**;Ohmygodittookmethreeandahalfmonthstoupdate ;Ihavenoexcuse ;JustgoreadthiswhileIgositinmycornerofshame…**

* * *

><p>DUNNA NA – Rachel instantly jerked awake – DA, DA, DA…<p>

_OW._ She ripped the earbuds from her ears. The pieces of plastic kept blasting music, audible to Rachel from by her knees, where they'd wound up.

~ daaaaAAAAAAAH ~

_You're on top of the thingy. I think you leaned on the volume button be… between the last song and this one_, Eist yawned…. If that was possible. He didn't exactly have a mouth right now.

Rachel took her iPod out from beneath her and pressed the decrease volume button about ten times. Whew. Her ears had finally recovered from that blast. "Pursuit" was loud enough _without_ mashing the volume.

Her iPod had 12:56 displayed on its lock screen. She checked the foot of her bed to make sure Encon hadn't woken up when she did. The drilbur still slept quietly, undisturbed by her violent movements.

Around then, Rachel noticed the frozen figure by the door.

They locked eyes. One pair was surprised; the other was alarmed. Surprise and alarm might not sound very different, but the two gazes weren't much alike. Rachel finally mouthed, _Where are you going?_

_Bathroom_, Lucas said silently.

She gave him a disbelieving look that meant, _You look like you're sneaking out. Generally you don't have to sneak out to go to the bathroom._

Lucas nodded, pretending to not understand, and slipped out the door.

_Fine, then._ Rachel quietly dropped her legs from the bed and stuck her feet into sneakers.

Leaving behind Encon, Andrea, and Aru, who were still sleeping (Promise, Lucas's buizel, had disappeared, further proving Lucas wasn't going where he claimed), Rachel stepped through the door. Lucas was only at the top of the stairs, down the hall from her.

She ran lightly to catch up. Lucas looked up just before she reached him. "Wrong way to the bathrooms," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "There's bathrooms downstairs."

Rachel fell into step with him, going down the staircase. "So where are you really going?"

"I'm not telling," he decided.

"Dang. I'll have to guess. You're going… Back to Striaton."

"Nope."

"Ahead to whatever the next town is."

"Castelia. And nope."

"To the pokemart."

He considered this. "Yeah."

"Taking a walk."

Lucas frowned. "I just said I was going to the pokemart."

"Yeah, but I didn't believe that either."

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I'm going to the gym."

"The gym? Is it open this late?"

"Yeah. I saw it when we met up with Andrea. It's open til three."

"Oh. Why'd you sneak out, then? You could just battle Lenora in the morning instead of at one am."

Lucas didn't meet her eyes. "I didn't want you guys to watch."

They stopped at the doors to the Pokemon Center. "Do you mind if I just come with you?" Rachel asked. "I won't watch the battle."

"Why?" He seemed suspicious.

Rachel was puzzled. "Because you don't want anyone to watch."

"No, why are you coming at all?"

"It's dark. There's monsters," Rachel said ominously. He shook his head, smiling. "No but seriously, going out alone in any city is usually a bad idea."

"You don't want to go back to sleep?" Lucas wondered, stepping forward. The automatic door slid open.

"Nah."

He hadn't ever said yes, but he didn't say no, either. Rachel went along with him.

"Wait, it's open til _three?!_" Rachel repeated.

Lucas shrugged.

The night air was just like Striaton's had been, chilly and motionless, but sharper and drier because Nacrene was farther inland. The streets were lined with the famous warehouse-turned-art-galleries Andrea had been talking about earlier that evening. Most of them were closed now, but a few had their lights on to welcome late-night customers.

Lucas was right: the museum was open still. Completely vacant inside except for a sleepy-looking young man at the front desk, but open all the same.

"Can… Can I help you?" he yawned. His glasses were slipping down his nose.

"I'm looking for the gym," Lucas responded.

The man nodded and used a finger to push his glasses up his nose. "Right this way." He led them through the museum.

"I'm Hawes, by the way," he said, walking between a dragon skeleton and a cofagrigus exhibit (the label said it was fake). "Museum curator and the gym leader's husband. If you have a question about an exhibit, just ask me."

As they started up a flight of stairs, Rachel noticed an empty display. It was roped off and had a cushion on a pedestal and everything… but nothing was there. Hawes didn't seem to mind. He actually looked right at it. The exhibit – or lack thereof – created speculations in Rachel's mind. Maybe it was broken. Maybe it was being cleaned. Maybe someone had stolen it…? But then Hawes wouldn't have looked at it that way. Or was he just not very observant? Or too tired?

Eist interrupted her train of thought with, _I hope Lucas battles fast. I'm sleepy._

At the top of the stairs lay a wide pair of mahogany doors. Hawes knocked a set of thin, bony knuckles on the door and pushed his glasses up his nose again.

The left door opened, revealing a sturdily built woman with skin darker than Lucas's and curly teal hair. She wore a white blouse, pink apron, and teal pants just a shade darker than her hair.

"Hey there," she greeted them in a rich, deep voice. "Are one of you challenging the gym?"

"This is Lenora, the gym leader," Hawes explained. "Dear, this is…" He gestured at Lucas and then realized he hadn't asked for the challenger's name.

"I'm Lucas," the trainer finished for Hawes.

Lenora chuckled and held an arm out to him. The two trainers shook hands. "Nice to meet you. Hawes, remember to ask for the names of challengers."

Hawes looked sheepish, as though he made the mistake often. "I'll try to remember, dear."

Smiling, Lenora looked at Rachel expectantly. "Oh – hi, I'm Rachel," she said, extending her own hand.

"Nice to meet you, too." Lenora shook hands with Rachel and said," Follow me to the field."

She started to retreat through the doors. Lucas and Hawes followed, but Rachel hung back. When Lenora looked at her expectantly, Rachel stammered, "Uh, I… I'm not watching the battle."

Lenora seemed surprised. "You aren't here to support him?" she wondered, gesturing at Lucas.

"I… I support him, but I'm not watching the battle," Rachel said quickly.

"Are you planning on battling the gym at any point?"

Rachel nodded.

"Then maybe you can watch and figure out my strategy," Lenora reasoned.

"No, I'll stay," Rachel persisted.

Lenora paused. "Is there a particular reason for it?"

Rachel looked at Lucas, who had been watching the exchange with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I didn't want anyone to watch," he informed Lenora.

"Oh. Well, that's fine, then." Lenora looked at Rachel differently, like suddenly she was half a foot taller.

"I'll stay out here," Hawes decided, coming out of the doorway. "You'll be okay without a referee?"

Lenora nodded. "See you soon."

"Good luck," Rachel told Lucas.

He smiled and the door closed.

"Would you like to look around the museum a bit, or would you rather wait over here?" Hawes asked Rachel. He indicated a few chairs on the side of the stairs, next to a tall, leafy plant.

"Um… I was wondering about an exhibit," Rachel admitted.

Hawes waved his hand towards the stairs. "Which one?"

"The empty one over there," Rachel said, pointing over the railing.

His lips stretched into a grin. "Ah. That's my favorite."

"Favorite?" The empty one?"

Their feet thumped lightly down the carpeted steps. "Yes indeed," Hawes agreed, "the empty one. Possibly _because_ it's vacant."

The pokemon trainer and museum curator turned right at the bottom of the stairwell and found themselves facing the pedestal without an artifact. Rachel read the plaque describing the exhibit it claimed to hold:

"A large white stone found in the ruins of Relic Castle. Most likely an item of décor for a past civilization."

"We thought it was just a pretty stone," Hawes explained. "It turned out to be the Light Stone, containing the spirit of Reshiram."

The name sounded vaguely familiar to Rachel.

"Embodiment of truth?" Hawes tried.

"Ohh." A memory of the fountain in Nuvema Town came back to her, the one with a black pokemon and a white pokemon circling each other.

"We handed it off to Hilda Touko to see if she could be a match for N in battle. As it turned out–"

"N?" Rachel interrupted.

"–both she and Hilbert Touya were needed to awaken Reshiram, but you were saying?"

"What about matching N?"

Hawes looked at her blankly. "Weren't you around here a year ago?"

Uh.

"Oh, I shouldn't be nosy. Forgive me," Hawes went on. "A year ago, N awoke Zekrom as the Hero of Ideals. To counter him, the Heroes of Unova – who, technically, are the Heroes of Truth – awoke Reshiram. The two pokemon are symbolic opposites."

Rachel was starting to understand. Except… "Why did they have to get Reshiram? Couldn't they have battled with their own pokemon?"

Hawes chuckled. "Against legendary-power pokemon? Sure, but awakening Reshiram eliminated a major disadvantage. And the region takes that legend pretty seriously, so the symbolism helped people _not_ side with Team Plasma."

Hawes suddenly scrutinized her. "Jeez, you look tired."

"Hm? Yeah, I'm usually not up at 1 am," Rachel admitted.

He grinned. "I can tell. Lenora still stays up like a college student, so I stick with her. Maybe a tour will wake you up?"

Rachel nodded, yawning simultaneously.

The tour didn't actually wake her up much, but she could see what Hawes meant when he said the region took the legends seriously. A mosaic depicting the battle where one dragon split into two covered an entire wall of a separate room. Some displays held objects labeled "Prince Adrian's war helmet" or "Prince Gavin's journal" (the latter of which was open to a page that seemed extremely dull). At one end of the room was a massive leatherbound book on a wood pedestal. Rachel could see a drawing of two pokemon – they looked like Zekrom and Reshiram – fighting each other inside the book.

"That's the unabridged version of the legend," Hawes said. "Written by a close friend of the princes. They hardly left out anything, which is kinda fishy, but this friend was known for having an exceptional memory."

Rachel flipped through the book. The script was nearly illegible, but the pictures were clear enough. She found the brothers playing together as children, fighting together to drive off enemies, journeying separately around the region.

One picture depicted the brothers battling a trio of pokemon. All three resembled stantler in a way, with four legs and a pair of antlers on their heads. They each wore a snarl.

One had green fur, accented with pink. Its horns resembled latias or latios wings, and its body was lithe and graceful. Leaflike appendages protruded from several places throughout the pokemon's body.

The pokemon on the other side of the drawing was very different. Short and heavyset, it was almost more like a venusaur than stantler. This one was brown with orange highlights, and its horns were huge and pointed straight forward.

In the middle, standing in front of the other two, was a tall, blue pokemon. Its horns and a spiky structure behind its forelegs were bronze, and white fur cascaded from the base of its neck like a scarf. This pokemon was stockier than the first, but more limber than the second.

What surprised Rachel most was that the brothers appeared to be having trouble battling these pokemon. Up until this point in the book, they had conquered every challenge without much difficulty, but here they seemed tense, like the battle wasn't going well.

"Those pokemon are the Swords of Justice," Hawes mentioned, noticing how long Rachel paused on that page. "Virizion," he pointed to the green one, "Cobalion," the one in the middle, "and Terrakion," the heavy brown one. "Humans were expanding settlement too far into pokemon territory, and those pokemon intervened. The trio has not trusted humans since."

Rachel looked at the pokemon's expressions, full of fierce rage at these beings who had taken their friends' homes. "Are they still alive?"

"The princes? No, both died of old age a long time ago. The pokemon may be; legend says that they are hiding from humans now, living where they'll only see other pokemon." Hawes's Xtranceiver beeped. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he checked it and said, "Looks like the battle's over."

"What's the result?" Rachel asked, trying to peek at the device.

"Lenora didn't say."

They returned to the main room and walked back up the stairs. Lenora and Lucas met Rachel and Hawes halfway. Them and Promise.

The buizel's left shoulder was bruised just below his flotation sac, and his arm and back were scratched up like he'd suffered a skidding fall. Otherwise the buizel looked perfectly fine.

Rachel looked at Lucas. He grinned.

* * *

><p>You <em>huh<em> at one in the morning?" Andrea repeated.

"Battled Lenora," Lucas said, tossing a grape – breakfast – into the air. Encon caught it in his mouth. "I keep telling you that."

"At one in the morning?" she said yet again.

"Keep telling you that too."

"Why one in the morning?"

"Cause I didn't want anyone to watch." He'd stopped saying it with reluctance, like he'd finally come to terms with the fact.

"Rachel went."

"I insisted. And I didn't watch," Rachel reminded her, tossing Encon another grape. Encon caught it in his mouth. He was good at this.

"Sure, but still, one in the…" Andrea paused, shrugged, and dropped the subject. "Guess that leaves you, Rachel."

Rachel winced and tossed a grape so high, Encon choked when it fell into his mouth. "Later?" she suggested, moving towards Encon. The drilbur spat out the slimy grape, coughing.

Andrea looked at her suddenly. "Sure… are you worried or something?"

"Mm… I just haven't trained with Encon yet, and I don't know where I can do that, either," Rachel said.

"You don't really need to," Lucas mentioned.

This surprised her. "I don't?"

He threw a grape upwards. Encon apprehensively moved away; Aru caught it in her paws and ate it. "Not unless you're fighting with strength and nothing else. Tactics is all."

"Lucas Zhang?" the nurse called. Lucas rose from the waiting bench to retrieve his buizel.

"All you gotta do to prepare is Encon's moves," Andrea informed her. "Worked for me and Aru, and I guess Lucas and what's-his-na… Promise. They did okay with that too."

Rachel pressed a few buttons on her Xtranceiver and pointed it at Encon. "I figured out how to do this a day or two ago," she said, poking a few more buttons, "but I didn't have a pokemon a day or two ago."

"_Drilbur, the Mole Pokemon. Drilbur's moves are dig, fury swipes, and mud slap._"

"Dig all over the place," Lucas suggested, returning from the counter with a pokeball and a grin. He let Promise out and handed the buizel a clump of grapes.

Rachel snorted. "Maybe I will. Haven't got any better ideas."

"Don't worry. It's mostly improvisation," Andrea said.

Despite the "don't worry" preceding Andrea's statement, Rachel looked horrified. "You said all I gotta do is know Encon's moves!"

"Well, that too."

"What else do I need to know?"

"Uh… improvise, know your Pokemon's moves… Lucas, did I miss anything?"

"Don't put a water type up against her watchog," Lucas added.

"…sure," Andrea said.

Rachel groaned.

"Why're you so worried anyways? You've battled a gym leader before. It's the same thing," Andrea said.

"No one else's health was on the line," Rachel muttered.

_Mine was_, Eist said.

_You've said before that you're part of me._

_Oh yeah._

"Well, don't worry about it. You'll do fine," Andrea said.

"If I can do it, you can," Lucas said.

His sincerity surprised her. "Okay," she finally said. "When should I go?"

"How 'bout now?"

* * *

><p>"Hey, you're back. Ready for this?" Hawes asked.<p>

_No_, she thought.

"Yeah," she said.

Like last night, he led her through the museum and up the steps. He didn't have to knock for Lenora to open the heavy door. It was like she'd been waiting for them.

"Hello," she said congenially. "No one tagging along?"

Rachel shook her head. "Andrea and Lucas battled alone. I figured I'd do the same."

Lenora nodded. "Follow me."

The teen stepped through the wooden doors, Hawes close behind. Behind it lay rows and rows or tall bookshelves, the kind where you need a ladder to reach the books on top. And there were enough books to need those top shelves – all the lower ones were filled. Even the library in Sandgem Town wasn't this big.

"Before each battle," Lenora explained, "I like to bring challengers in here. You can take a look through the library before we battle."

Rachel didn't understand. "I have to read everything?"

Lenora laughed. "Only what you want to read. If you want the quickest way to the battle, try _The Anatomy of Fire-types_. Fascinating book."

"Who's it by?" Rachel asked.

"K.T. Finnigan."

"It's nonfiction… What's the call number?" Rachel asked, scanning the shelves.

"811.54 Finnigan."

_She's got the number memorized?_ Rachel thought. _Must be some good book… or maybe it's something else…_

The book was a narrow one, dark red with the title embossed in gold print. It was on a bottom shelf. Rachel reached for it.

"Hold on," said Lenora, "You're not choosing anything else? Just the one?"

Rachel shrugged. "I would, but this is the fastest way to the battle."

"What do you mean by, 'I would'?"

Rachel glanced at Hawes in confusion, but he merely smiled. "Um… I'm interested in pokemon-human hybrids, but I don't know a lot about them."

"You're talking about…" Lenora stopped. "Never mind. But why wouldn't you find and read something related to that? Why skip it for the battle?"

Rachel looked at Hawes again. "My friends and I… we're trying to make our way through the region as fast as possible," Rachel said. "That means battling this gym as fast as possible, too. Provided I win."

She pulled out the book and flipped it open. The shelf gave a click, and Rachel noticed a little red button in the gap where her book had been.

Metal whirred as the ordinary-looking shelf rolled aside, revealing a hole in the ground and a flight of stairs. Lenora smiled. "Shall we go in?" she asked.

Rachel led the way. _That was a test, huh?_

Eist piped up, _Ether said the handshake last night was a test, too. Lenora likes to see what her opponent's like._

_You talk to Ether a lot_, Rachel noted.

_Yup. When you and Lucas are near each other, we can talk without you hearing us._

Lenora's underground battlefield was covered in grass. Rachel tried to remember if there was anything significant relating to grass in battles. It did something to the move secret power, was that all?

"This will be a two on two pokemon battle between Rachel, the challenger, and Lenora, the gym leader," Hawes called out from the side. "Both sides are allowed substitutions. The first side to defeat the opponent's pokemon will be the victor. Are both sides ready?"

"All set," Lenora declared, selecting a pokeball from her belt.

"Ready," said Rachel. It was two on two; she'd have to hope Encon was strong enough to handle both.

"The gym leader will chose her pokemon first, the challenger has the first move," Hawes yelled, pushing his sliding glasses up his nose. "Battle, begin!"

"Glameow, let's go."

"Encon, ready?"

"Dril," Encon confirmed.

"Encon, use dig," Rachel said right off the bat.

"Glameow, fake out," Lenora said quickly.

Encon prepared to dig, but the glameow was by him in a flash, clapping her paws together in front of him. He flinched away.

"En… Encon, dig," Rachel said, flustered.

He did, Rachel breathing a sigh of relief.

"Glameow, use fury swipes when you see him," Lenora said.

Encon surfaced almost immediately, not giving the glameow time to figure out his location. The cat hissed and swiped at his face, cutting shallow lines into the drilbur's skin.

"Short-range… Use fury swipes back," Rachel yelled.

Encon's claws glowed white. Surprised, the glameow deflected the attack with her own claws.

"Fury swipes," Lenora said simply.

Claws skidded against each other, both pokemon looking for an opening while blocking strikes. Rachel couldn't see that well – Encon was mostly blocking the view – but she could tell that both pokemon were adept at using claws. Encon's larger, stronger ones allowed him to force the glameow backwards, tumbling across the grass.

"Wow… nicely done," Rachel said. "Quick, mud slap!"

Encon dug his claws into the ground and scooped up a few wet clumps of grassy dirt. Glameow dodged one but ran headfirst into another. She shrieked in outrage at the mud in her fur and pawed at her eyes.

"Assist, Glameow," Lenora called.

Still snarling and unable to see, Glameow glowed white, leaped forward, and swept a foot under Encon. He fell, legs kicked out from underneath him.

"Fury swipes," Rachel tried. Glameow still couldn't see.

"You too, Glameow," Lenora said.

This time, Encon clearly had the upper hand, sneaking around Glameow's paws to scratch cuts into her fur. The cat was getting angrier by the second.

_We're doing well_, Rachel thought. She stole a glance at Lenora. The gym leader was deep in thought.

"Use assist," Lenora finally said.

Shining white, Glameow took a deep breath and roared with all her might. Encon glowed red and disappeared into the pokeball on Rachel's belt.

Uh.

A sudden force pulled Rachel forward. She staggered as her legs forced her onto the field. The pull stopped as suddenly as it began.

Lenora was just as startled as she was. "What –"

Rachel acted fast, blasting as strong a watergun as she could manage at the glameow. Screeching, the pokemon tumbled ten feet and lay still.

"G-Glameow is u-unable t-to, to battle," Hawes stammered, his glasses sliding down his nose. "The challenger wins that matchup."

Lenora appeared just as stunned, but she soon burst out laughing. "So that's why you wanted to know about hybrids," she said, withdrawing her unconscious pokemon. "Watchog, you're up. Rachel, you can switch back out if you li – Watchog!"

The tall pokemon that appeared had shot a nasty look at Rachel, which created an apparition of bright yellow eyes all around her. Rachel shuddered, both because of the appearance of the move and what it meant.

She was stuck.

"Oh, Watchog." Lenora sighed. "Rachel, we can stop and battle again later."

Rachel took this in. Stop. Battle again later. Take even more time to get through this gym.

"No, I can fight," she said, surprising herself a little.

Lenora nodded grimly. "All right, then. Watchog, use thunderbolt."

Rachel inhaled sharply and remembered Andrea and Lucas's advice from earlier.

"_Improvise, know your Pokemon's moves… Lucas, did I miss anything?"_

"_Don't put a water type up against her watchog."_

She unfroze and jumped aside just in time to avoid the electric energy zooming at her. Rachel shot another water gun at the watchog, who easily dodged.

"Low sweep," Lenora said quickly.

Using the same move Glameow had done with assist, Watchog kicked Rachel's knees out from beneath her. She knocked him back with a close-range watergun and scrambled to her feet.

"Super fang."

Rachel created a waterpunch to counter the watchog's attack. Throwing her fist forward, she felt something pinch her knuckles. Watchog's long, sharp incisors had a tight grip on her hand, breaking through skin.

"Ow," she muttered in a high voice. Moving her hand – he'd latched on with his teeth – tore at her knuckles. She tried encasing her hand in water. That seemed to work, his nose and mouth were submerged and he'd have to let go…

"Thunderbolt."

Her entire body was shot with a searing pain that was worst in her hand. Being bitten by a lillipup, barraged by a sandstorm, or scalded by a panpour didn't compare to electrocution. She willed the water in her hand to burst, making the watchog stop zapping her in surprise, and just stood there for a moment, breathing.

Rachel, still trying to clear her head of the electricity, saw the look on Lenora's face. She found sympathy and guilt among the emotions there. Not the sort of things you'd show if you were in a battle with practiced, skilled pokemon.

Gritting her teeth, Rachel fired a water gun straight into the watchog's mouth. He spluttered and tried to spit the water out without letting go of Rachel's hand, which was pretty much impossible seeing as Rachel was still pushing water in. Watchog zapped her twice more; Rachel wouldn't let up. The fangs slipped from her hand as the watchog collapsed. His face was blue, and he was very much unconscious.

In the rush to check on Lenora's watchog, Hawes forgot to announce Rachel's victory. Lenora came over, too, to examine her pokemon, and Rachel hovered anxiously.

"He's all right," Lenora said, pressing the watchog's stomach. He sat up suddenly and vomited water onto the grass.

Rachel made a noise of relief. "Thank Arceus…"

Hawes looked sideways at her. "Arceus... Sinnoan, I'm guessing? I knew you weren't local–"

Lenora cleared her throat.

"–but, ah, perhaps now's not the time for that…"

Lenora pulled an envelope and badge from her apron. "Here's the Basic Badge and prize money. Well done."

The Basic Badge was a simple mahogany rectangle with gold lines running across it. Rachel decided it was supposed to look like the side of a book. "Thank you."

Hawes beckoned for her to follow him. With a final glance at the gym leader and her unconscious pokemon, Rachel went after him.

"Just gotta bandage up that hand. We don't have a heal machine, but you can get your pokemon healed at the Center," he said, leading her through a door on the far side.

"Hawes?"

"Hm?"

"Was that a legitimate win?"

They were walking through a dimly lit corridor with violet walls and carpeting. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"It was way shorter than any other battle I've been in, but it's not like I've gotten more powerful in between. Was almost drowning Watchog allowed?"

Hawes mulled this over. "The definition of the end of a battle is when one side's pokemon are unable to battle. Watchog couldn't battle anymore, and neither could Glameow, so you won. Cutting off his air supply knocked him out just as well as punching or watergunning him. I'd say it's legitimate."

Rachel accepted his explanation. "He'll be all right, though?"

Hawes grinned, pushing his glasses up his nose. "This is Lenora's pokemon we're talking about. He'll be fine."

He opened a closet door – Rachel knew it was a closet door by the fact that there was a _closet_ inside – and pulled out gauze, medical tape, and bandages. While he patched her up in the hallway, he said, "So is it just you, or all three of you?"

Rachel knew what he meant. "All three of us. Professor Juniper used us as test subjects."

Hawes's brow furrowed. "Test subjects all the way from Sinnoh? Assuming all of you are from Sinnoh, of course."

"Yeah."

Hawes stopped taping gauze to the bleeding part of her hand and looked her in the eye. "Rachel, there's more to this than you're telling me. What happened?"

In the time it took him to patch up her hand, Rachel told him what had happened between the test in Sinnoh and their decision to go on a badge run. "We battled Striaton two days ago and arrived in Nacrene City just yesterday," she said, wrapping up the story just as Hawes finished wrapping up her hand. "Our goal is to get back to Sinnoh as soon as possible."

Hawes nodded to show he was listening, then said, "Just letting you know – the gym difficulties get exponentially harder. And the library puzzle was barely anything compared to that of some gyms."

Rachel shrugged. "We'll just have to face those as they come. Thanks," she said, indicating her hand.

Hawes smiled. "Good luck then. And it was no problem."

* * *

><p>Rachel found out that Andrea and Lucas were all set to start out towards Castelia City. After buying a few pokeballs and a great ball and healing Encon, she decided she was set too.<p>

"Aru," Andrea said, releasing her petilil. "Wanna walk with us?"

Aru nodded. They would be going through the forest, after all.

Rachel and Lucas let out Encon and Promise, respectively. In about ten minutes they walked from the Pokemon Center to the outer edge of Pinwheel Forest. Andrea estimated they could reach Castelia by nightfall – the distance on the map was about twice that of the last two routes they'd traveled, and those had been just a few hours each.

Yeah, nope.

* * *

><p><strong>;semicolonsarecoolerthanhashtags <strong>

**Pursuit is from the field show Cirque du Soleil: Ka, by Jay Dawson. Just search "Ka marching show" to find it. Pursuit is movement three of four. Super cool show, and that piece is the most fun :D**

**"Adrian" has to do with darkness. So, the Prince of Truth and Prince of Ideals, respectively.**

**Lenora doesn't have a glameow officially, but it's a normal type so it works anyways.**

****Wow. Three and a half months. Here's the deal – I'm going to see if I can finish my other story, Eyes of a Dragon, which is in its home stretch. I want to finish as soon as possible to get another story up and running WAY before graduation 2014. It's an important graduation for me, even though it's not mine. I don't know exactly how long it'll take me, but I generally have a better idea of what I want done for EOAD than NaSS. This is not a hiatus; just a warning that I'm on an EOAD marathon and this three-and-a-half month thing could happen again. Story alert would be a good idea here.****

**Til then,**

**~A. Eon**


End file.
